Interested in joining the lab?

Graduate students

I look for graduate students who are excited about studying the ecology and management of marine fisheries, who have strong quantitative and verbal communication skills, and who are committed to being collaborative, supportive, and engaged members of the lab and broader university communities. I am happy to work with students who have taken a variety of paths to get to graduate school, provided you have some experience in both ecology/fisheries and quantitative reasoning. This might mean a background (academic or otherwise) in ecology, fishery science, oceanography, math, statistics, computer science, economics, etc. If you are interested in joining the lab, please contact me with:

1. A brief note on why you are interested in graduate school in general and my research in particular
2. A technical writing sample (e.g., publication, senior thesis, fellowship application, term paper you’re really proud of)
3. Your resume/CV and transcripts

Note that I do not maintain a field research program. If you are interested in pursuing fieldwork as part of your thesis/dissertation, I am happy to coadvise.

Your salary as a graduate student will generally be paid by TAships, my grant funding, or fellowships you obtain. Here are some fellowships that might be good fits for students in my lab:

• UC Davis NSF Research Traineeship in Sustainable Oceans (Great opportunity at Davis!)
• NSF GRFP
• Davidson fellowships
• NOAA-Sea Grant Population and Ecosystem Dynamics
• Nancy Foster Scholarship (Targets women and minorities)
• Ford Foundation Fellows (Open to certain non-citizens, including DACA recipients)

Postdocs

As with graduate students, I’m excited to work with people who are motivated to study the ecology and management of marine fisheries, who have strong quantitative and verbal communication skills, and who are committed to being collaborative, supportive, and engaged members of the community. I’m also happy to collaborate on a postdoctoral fellowship proposal. Please contact me if you’re interested in scoping a project together and we can look for potential funding sources.

What to expect?

Of course, I can’t tell you what life will be like if you join the lab. However, it’s good to have some ground rules. You can expect that all lab members (myself included) will uphold these expectations of one another:

• Approach work with curiosity, rigor, and humility. Being a member of the lab is our job, and we take our jobs seriously. It’s also just a job.
• Value each others’ time.
• Trust intent, own impact: gives others the benefit of the doubt, but own the consequences of our behaviors.
• Be an active and collaborative member of the lab. On the flip side, provide feedback with empathy.

In addition, I have some extra responsibilies as your mentor:

• Adjust my mentorship for your career goals (which I should periodically check in about) and career stage.
• Collaborate in the development and execution of a research project.
• Provide feedback on what you are doing well and what skills we can work together on further developing.
• Ensure adequate financial support (including extras such as conferences, computers, publication fees).