Opportunities

General information

Inquiries from motivated, engaged and independent people are welcomed at undergraduate, graduate and postdoctoral levels. Our lab focuses on tracking patterns of migration and habitat use of mobile fish species, but students will not be limited to those topics alone as long as the research relates in some way to the core interests of our group. I am particularly keen for students to pursue projects that approach questions in fish ecology with complementary methods (e.g. otolith chemistry and stable isotopes or radiotelemetry).

Interested applicants should first contact Benjamin Walther with a CV and a statement of interests. Experience with fish ecology or geochemical analytical methods (or both) are preferred but not necessary.

Details on application procedures for specific student groups are below:

Graduate students

General advice:

I strongly encourage students to seek additional funding support, and applications to the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program are also encouraged.

It is important that prospective students are a good fit in terms of the kind of research questions they want to pursue and the methods they want to employ. When thinking about joining my lab, consider the following questions:

1. What specific ecological questions and hypotheses are you interested in answering during your graduate work, and what aspects of fish or marine ecology are you most passionate about?
2. What aspects of my work do you find intriguing and relevant to your interests?
3. Why do you think working in my lab would help you achieve those research goals?

Considering these questions will help you identify whether my lab is a good place for you to be. My goal is not to tie you to a specific question at this early stage, but to understand how you think and approach ecological problems. Applicants that show they have been thoughtful about their aspirations and goals will have a leg up on others.

Some excellent advice on crafting inquiry letters to potential graduate advisors (such as myself) can be found HERE (Contemplative Mammoth blog post) and HERE (Tenure, She Wrote blog post).

I welcome applications for both masters and doctoral students.

Undergraduate students

Undergraduates may join the lab through either summer research or independent study. Please contact me for information.

Undergraduates may also pursue independent research projects in our lab. Support is available from the University from a variety of sources. Please contact me well in advance of the deadlines if you are interested in working at the lab.

Postdoctoral fellowships

Postdoc applications are highly encouraged and interested individuals should contact me for information about currently available funding and space in the lab.