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Prospective Graduate Students

General Advice

I highly recommend reading Carson et al. (2021) titled "Advice on Applying to Graduate School in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology: How to Prepare and a Step-By-Step Guide". You can find it freely available here. 

In addition, here and here is more advice on how to approach prospective mentors, and here is a good description of what the grad school admissions process is like in ecology and evolution in North America. 

If you want to avoid cold-contacting faculty who may not actually be taking students, you can focus on labs that are actively recruiting (often with funding) by checking out advertised positions on the ECOLOG-L listserv, as well as on these job boards: EcoPhys, Natural Resources Job Board. 

Programs

I mentor graduate students through the Zoology Graduate Program (application deadline December 15 to start the following August), and I am also faculty in the Ecology, Evolution and Conservation Biology graduate specialization. Note that EECB is not a degree-granting program; you must be enrolled in a degree-granting program like Zoology first, and then you apply to EECB after you come to UHM.

Funding

TA stipends for academic year 2024-2025 are $23,028  for a 9-month appointment. In addition to a stipend, students supported on TA receive healthcare benefits, do not pay tuition (i.e. tuition is waived), but they do pay student fees. The low stipend relative to the high cost of living in Honolulu is the biggest and most consistent negative issue raised by current students; I include it here for transparency as you consider different programs. 

Specific Advice

Prospective graduate students should email me: a clear description of specific research questions you would like to pursue in graduate school, a description of your research experience and your role in the project(s), and a cv. Students who do not explain why my lab specifically is a good fit for their interests are unlikely to be invited to apply to the program. 

 Prospective students should aim to do the following: 

Given the unique ecology and evolutionary history of the Hawaiian Islands and how expensive it is to travel between Hawaii and other sites, I think it is most prudent for students to take advantage of local field systems. The most competitive prospective students will have done background research and thoughtfully considered what kinds of interesting, basic ecology questions can be fruitfully addressed here. PhD students are expected to generate their own thesis ideas and pursue independent projects. However, the more conceptual and study system overlap there is between a PhD thesis topic and my own work, the better the fit and the more advice and resources I can provide. Master's students need to join ongoing projects or work in systems that the lab is well-established in. 

Undergraduate students

The earlier you can start getting research experience as an undergraduate the better! This is both so you can figure out what you're interested in and so you can start building a research record. I am happy to meet with students to discuss potential projects. Students that are motivated to develop independent projects will be encouraged to do so, and will be supported in applying for funding through the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program. Past projects include:

Postdocs

I am happy to discuss potential proposals for external postdoctoral funding if our lab would be a good home for a project.