Blaine Griffen is seeking motivated graduate students (PhD or masters) to join his lab in the Department of Biology at Brigham Young University beginning Fall 2018. The positions are completely funded TA assistantship during the school year will provide stipend and tuition, and RA during the summer will provide stipend. The research topic for these positions is open, but should fall with the framework of general research directions in the Griffen lab, which broadly include the behavioral and physiological responses of animals to environmental change, invasive species, and the ecological consequences of animal personality.
Ongoing projects in the Griffen lab include exploring the climate-
induced range expansion of mangrove tree crabs into saltmarshes, experimentally testing extinction theory and exploring the dynamics of declining populations, and behavioral and physiological responses of polar bears to declining sea ice. Students may develop projects that build into one of these ongoing areas of research, or they may develop an independent project.
Interested applicants should contact me directly at blaine_griffen@byu.edu to discuss potential research projects and to determine whether my lab is a good fit for them.
A bit about the Biology Department at Brigham Young University
Housed in a new, state of the art building, the biology department (http://biology.byu.edu) comprises a large and dynamic faculty spanning a diverse array of collaborative research areas including Ecology, Evolutionary Ecology, Molecular Systematics, Bioinformatics, Conservation Biology, and Biological Science Education. The focus both within my lab and within the department as a whole is on integrating modeling, theory, and experimentation.
Exceptional facilities and resources for carrying out research are available through the Monte L. Bean Life Science Museum (http://mlbean.byu.edu), Lytle Ranch Preserve http://mlbean.byu.edu/lytle), the DNA Sequencing Center (http://dnasc.byu.edu), the Research Instrumentation Core Facility (http://ricfacility.byu.edu), the Microscopy Lab (http://microscopy.byu.edu) and the Fulton Supercomputing Lab (https://marylou.byu.edu). In addition to these facilities, students in my lab group may choose to take advantage of our ongoing collaborations in order to conduct research at field lab facilities in New England, in the southeast (South Carolina, Florida), or in the Pacific northwest.
BYU is located in Provo, Utah, where opportunities for world-class skiing, fly-fishing, kayaking, hiking, mountain biking, and many other outdoor recreational activities are less than 20 minutes from the lab. Salt Lake City is only 45 minutes travel by car or commuter rail.
The application deadline for Fall 2018 admission is January 15, 2018 (https://gradstudies.byu.edu/).
Blaine Griffen