Ph.D. position in coevolutionary biology (USA)

The Nuismer and Joyce labs at the University of Idaho are actively recruiting a Ph.D. student interested in developing novel statistical approaches for estimating the strength of coevolutionary selection within natural populations. Our overall goal is to develop Bayesian statistical tools that allow key parameters of existing coevolutionary models to be estimated using widely available data drawn from studies of phenotype matching and local adaptation.
Through collaboration with Dr. Butch Brodie (University of Virginia), opportunities exist for developing and testing these new statistical tools using data on the well-studied interactions between toxic newts and their garter snake predators. Substantial scope also exists for student driven innovation and extension to other types of data.

Applicants with a strong background in mathematics, statistics, and computation are encouraged to apply. However, applications from students with a strong background in evolutionary biology or ecology who have a keen interest in learning to develop mathematical, statistical, and computational tools are also encouraged. Depending on the successful applicant's background and primary interests, graduate work will take place in the Department of Biology (http://www.uidaho.edu/sci/biology), the Graduate Program in Bioinformatics and Computational Biology (http://www.uidaho.edu/cogs/bcb), the Department of Mathematics (http://www.uidaho.edu/sci/math), or the Department of Statistics (http://www.uidaho.edu/sci/stat). We anticipate that funding will be primarily through a research assistantship, beginning in fall, 2015.

To apply, please send an email describing your background and interests to Dr. Scott Nuismer (snuismer@uidaho.edu) or Dr. Paul Joyce (joyce@uidaho.edu).


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Scott Nuismer
Professor
Departments of Biological Sciences and Mathematics
Program in Bioinformatics and Computational Biology
University of Idaho
Moscow, ID 83844