PhD Graduate Student Positions Available Olson Lab, Texas Tech
University
The Olson lab at Texas Tech University is recruiting PhD Graduate
students interested in the field of plant ecological genetics to start
in the fall of 2018. Our lab studies a variety of questions including
local adaptation to latitude in relation to climate change, the
evolution of breeding systems, sex chromosome evolution, and the
evolution of gender dimorphism in plants. We use a variety of
experimental techniques including common garden studies, field ecology,
transmission genetics, genomics and bioinformatics. For the past decade
we have studied these processes in forest trees and expect that this
will continue to be the main taxonomic focus of our research.
Our current funding supports research to study the ecological and
genetic factors influencing the dynamic movement of sex determination
regions and sex chromosome evolution within the Salicaceae (poplars and
willows). The overall project focuses on mapping sex determination
regions from representatives throughout the family, understanding the
genetic basis of gender dimorphism in defense and pollinator attraction
chemistry, and the assessment of population genetic patterns across the
sex determination and pseudo-autosomal regions of the sex chromosomes.
Graduate students working on this project will have the opportunity to
choose from a variety of projects including, but not limited to,
mapping the locations of previously unknown sex determination regions,
development of phylogenies for important plant groups, and studying the
evolution of sexual dimorphism in plant defensive and pollinator
attraction compounds. Moreover, the grant provides for a unique
multi-institutional and international training environment, with
potential funding to visit labs at the University of West Virginia, the
University of Wisconsin, Cornell University, and Sichuan University and
Nanjing Forestry University in China for cross-disciplinary training.
The Olson lab is part of a dynamic Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
group at Texas Tech. Courses and focused training in ecology,
bioinformatics, and genomics are available from a highly interactive
faculty. Texas Tech boasts excellent laboratory and research resources
as well as easy access to some of the most beautiful and remote regions
of the lower 48 United States.
Please contact Matt Olson directly at matt.olson@ttu.edu for more
information regarding opportunities and application information.
Additional information about the Olson lab can be found at
www.faculty.biol.ttu.edu/olson/Research.html and general information
concerning the Department of Biological Sciences can be found at
www.depts.ttu.edu/biology/.
“Olson, Matt” <matt.olson@ttu.edu>