Interested in joining the lab?

My lab will be in the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Program at UTEP.  I will also be a Curator of Herpetology in the Biodiversity Collections. 

I am recruiting several excellent PhD students to start in Fall 2027. The application deadline is in December but interested students should reach out to me around August with:

1. your CV

2. a short description of your research interests 

3. information for 2-3 professional references

4. a writing sample (ideally, this would be a scientific paper you've published or are preparing)

These materials will help me assess if we will work well together, but aren't meant to be prohibitive -- if you don't have all of the above, email me with what you do have and we can go from there.

My lab will integrate field and collections-based approaches to understand how environmental variation shapes phenotypic evolution in reptiles and amphibians and how phenotypes, in turn, shape species interactions and organismal responses to changing environments. We will conduct fieldwork across the southwestern United States, with a strong focus on the Chihuahuan and Sonoran Deserts—exceptional systems for studying herpetological diversity and adaptation—while leveraging UTEP's Biodiversity Collections, Imaging Core, and Indio Mountains Research Station. Students should have an interest in phenotypic evolution, evolutionary ecology, and/or ecophysiology, and those additionally interested in conducting fieldwork, working with museum collections, and/or digitization efforts and 3D morphology are especially encouraged to apply.

I am also excited to work with prospective postdoctoral fellows interested in developing projects in the lab. Recent/forthcoming PhDs who are planning to apply for fellowships should get in touch several months in advance of their deadline to discuss potential projects and fit.