Graduate Positions at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi_Plant Systematics Biogeography Ecology
PhD and MS graduate positions in Plant Systematics, Biogeography and Conservation There are multiple PhD and MS graduate positions available in the Daru Lab (https://barnabasdaru.com) at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christ (TAMUCC) beginning Fall 2019. Research in the Daru Lab focuses on biogeography, systematics, ecology and conservation in the context of two key questions: 1) What are the mechanistic processes by which biodiversity has evolved, is currently distributed and will be maintained? 2) How can we set meaningful conservation priorities to safeguard their future? Students with interest in the following areas are strongly encouraged to apply: Biogeography Plant systematics Phylogenetic spatial diversity Conservation biology Community ecology Population genetics and genomics Species distribution modeling Bioinformatics Impacts of global change on biological communities e.g. invasives, extinctions, etc. The successful students will have access to the facilities and collections at the Ruth O'Brien Herbarium which contain comprehensive records of the regional flora of the Texas coastal bend. The herbarium has a good collection of marine vascular plants of the Gulf Coast of Texas, Mexico and the Caribbean, including seagrasses, marsh plants and mangroves. The successful applicants will also have access to the High Performance Research Computing, that provides scalable high performance computing clusters for researchers, faculty, students, and affiliates of TAMUCC. The geographic region of Texas comprises major ecological and biological diversity, with sharp environmental gradients in precipitation, elevation, and temperature. The region has tremendous diversity with up 3500 native vascular plant species, constituting 30% of all native species in North America north of Mexico. Plant species relegated to the Texas Coastal Bend, Trans-Pecos or the eastern forest regions are in close juxtaposition to one another making this region an ideal laboratory to examine plant diversity and ecotypes. Interested applicants should contact Dr. Barnabas Daru (barnabas.d...@tamucc.edu) with a description of research interest and a CV/resume. Applicants are encouraged to apply prior to December 21, 2018 and review of applications will begin January 19, 2019. The positions will remain open until finalists are selected. The Department of Life Sciences has several opportunities for fellowships, research and teaching assistantships within the College of Science and Engineering as well as programs in Marine Biology (http://sci.tamucc.edu/LSCI/MARB/) and M.S. Biology (https://sci.tamucc.edu/LSCI/BIOL/ms/index.html). TAMU-CC is an Hispanic-serving institution located on the Texas Gulf Coast and a rapidly growing doctoral research university with about 12,000 students.
