Advice for prospective students
I am primarily interested in working with students with a strong quantitative background in geography, ecology/biology, and/or the health sciences. I can advise students in several programs at UF, so read below carefully.
Graduate Students:
I can advise graduate students at the MSc and PhD level in the Geography and SNRE (Interdisciplinary Ecology) programs at UF. A masters degree is a prerequisite for a PhD in geography at UF. I can also advise students for an MA in Latin American Studies (MALAS).
Opportunities for graduate (and postdoctoral) work take on two major forms:
1. Funded Positions within grants
From time to time, I will have funded positions within grants, with expectations ranging from very specific questions, to directed research ideas with more general outcomes sought, largely depending on the funding source. In general, I will advertise these publicly on lists such as ECOLOG-L, Ecophys, and other appropriate job boards.
2. Teaching or Fellowship Support
Self-funded: Graduate students who secure funding prior to applying are likely to gain the highest priority in applications and have maximal success. I am open to discussions with prospective students about funding opportunities to apply for. Remember this can be a very long process, so start early! Check out my LINKS page for some ideas of where to start.
Teaching Assistantship funded: TA opportunities are available for outstanding applicants; while I do not recommend teaching through an entire graduate career, particularly if you intend to do international fieldwork or long lab hours with timed experiments, this is a great way to get going, gain teaching experience, and not starve. Applying for independent funding to supplement a TA salary and conduct research is encouraged, but ideally, securing funding to not need a TA position is the outcome.
If you are interested in our programs, please email me (Dr Ryan, sjryan@ufl.edu), including a cover letter describing your interests, skills and how you see that fitting with the lab group, a CV (Curriculum Vitae/Resume), transcript (unofficial is fine, just make sure to include your major, GPA, and department). Please include contact information for references or advisors who can attest to your experience and skills. If you have publications (peer reviewed literature, agency reports that you authored, poster pdfs, conference proceedings, e.g.), please include copies or links to hosted locations.
Undergraduates:
If you are a recent graduate, or undergraduate (at UF or another institution) and looking research experience, I welcome your interest. At UF, we have the UF University Scholars Program, which is a fantastic opportunity for undergrads to GET PAID to do a research project with a mentor. In addition to this, there is often available funded hours through the lab; and/or research credits. Please email a cover letter and CV, and let me know if you have funding support, or how you will support yourself here. I am particularly interested in research interns with experience in GIS, molecular techniques, data analyses (statistics, synthesis), data management, IT/web design for biology and from time to time, fieldwork.
Postdoctoral Opportunities:
It is a pleasure to host postdoctoral students, research associates, visiting scholars, collaborative exchanges and any variety of the professional level research opportunity available. When these are possible through grants, they will be advertised on listservs such as ECOLOG-L, and posted here at this website. Additional Interested candidates should email me with the appropriate materials and proposed ideas for research and funding mechanisms. If you are interested in gaining lectureship experience or keen to mentor students, I encourage you to mention this. I am happy to work with exceptional candidates to secure funding and opportunities; as above, grant-funded positions will be advertised publicly.
Groupies:
I enjoy work with charismatic vertebrates, from howler monkeys to rabbits to elephants to humans. I enjoy it the most when I'm out in the field, looking at the study itself and gathering data. These days, this is about 5% of my academic time, and not because I prefer sitting at a desk. The hardest emails to answer are those that say "can I come and do fieldwork with you?", because funding for field research is hard to come by, and the experience needed to do the work takes a while to build. However, I strongly encourage the enthusiastic among you to think about how you can get to the field eventually, how you can build the background needed to get the field, and read as much as you can in the meantime.
Check out the opportunities page on this lab website to find field schools, internships and volunteer opportunities. Stay tuned to this website for potential projects and internships with us that you can join in with.
If you think of a fun idea that you want to volunteer to enhance the lab (do you like blogging? can you design cool logos? are you interested in web design? do you make beautiful maps? do you have fund-raising ideas?), send an email along!
I am primarily interested in working with students with a strong quantitative background in geography, ecology/biology, and/or the health sciences. I can advise students in several programs at UF, so read below carefully.
Graduate Students:
I can advise graduate students at the MSc and PhD level in the Geography and SNRE (Interdisciplinary Ecology) programs at UF. A masters degree is a prerequisite for a PhD in geography at UF. I can also advise students for an MA in Latin American Studies (MALAS).
Opportunities for graduate (and postdoctoral) work take on two major forms:
1. Funded Positions within grants
From time to time, I will have funded positions within grants, with expectations ranging from very specific questions, to directed research ideas with more general outcomes sought, largely depending on the funding source. In general, I will advertise these publicly on lists such as ECOLOG-L, Ecophys, and other appropriate job boards.
2. Teaching or Fellowship Support
Self-funded: Graduate students who secure funding prior to applying are likely to gain the highest priority in applications and have maximal success. I am open to discussions with prospective students about funding opportunities to apply for. Remember this can be a very long process, so start early! Check out my LINKS page for some ideas of where to start.
Teaching Assistantship funded: TA opportunities are available for outstanding applicants; while I do not recommend teaching through an entire graduate career, particularly if you intend to do international fieldwork or long lab hours with timed experiments, this is a great way to get going, gain teaching experience, and not starve. Applying for independent funding to supplement a TA salary and conduct research is encouraged, but ideally, securing funding to not need a TA position is the outcome.
If you are interested in our programs, please email me (Dr Ryan, sjryan@ufl.edu), including a cover letter describing your interests, skills and how you see that fitting with the lab group, a CV (Curriculum Vitae/Resume), transcript (unofficial is fine, just make sure to include your major, GPA, and department). Please include contact information for references or advisors who can attest to your experience and skills. If you have publications (peer reviewed literature, agency reports that you authored, poster pdfs, conference proceedings, e.g.), please include copies or links to hosted locations.
Undergraduates:
If you are a recent graduate, or undergraduate (at UF or another institution) and looking research experience, I welcome your interest. At UF, we have the UF University Scholars Program, which is a fantastic opportunity for undergrads to GET PAID to do a research project with a mentor. In addition to this, there is often available funded hours through the lab; and/or research credits. Please email a cover letter and CV, and let me know if you have funding support, or how you will support yourself here. I am particularly interested in research interns with experience in GIS, molecular techniques, data analyses (statistics, synthesis), data management, IT/web design for biology and from time to time, fieldwork.
Postdoctoral Opportunities:
It is a pleasure to host postdoctoral students, research associates, visiting scholars, collaborative exchanges and any variety of the professional level research opportunity available. When these are possible through grants, they will be advertised on listservs such as ECOLOG-L, and posted here at this website. Additional Interested candidates should email me with the appropriate materials and proposed ideas for research and funding mechanisms. If you are interested in gaining lectureship experience or keen to mentor students, I encourage you to mention this. I am happy to work with exceptional candidates to secure funding and opportunities; as above, grant-funded positions will be advertised publicly.
Groupies:
I enjoy work with charismatic vertebrates, from howler monkeys to rabbits to elephants to humans. I enjoy it the most when I'm out in the field, looking at the study itself and gathering data. These days, this is about 5% of my academic time, and not because I prefer sitting at a desk. The hardest emails to answer are those that say "can I come and do fieldwork with you?", because funding for field research is hard to come by, and the experience needed to do the work takes a while to build. However, I strongly encourage the enthusiastic among you to think about how you can get to the field eventually, how you can build the background needed to get the field, and read as much as you can in the meantime.
Check out the opportunities page on this lab website to find field schools, internships and volunteer opportunities. Stay tuned to this website for potential projects and internships with us that you can join in with.
If you think of a fun idea that you want to volunteer to enhance the lab (do you like blogging? can you design cool logos? are you interested in web design? do you make beautiful maps? do you have fund-raising ideas?), send an email along!