PhD Positions to Study Epigenome-to-Phenome of Bumble Bee Thermal
Tolerance:

Multiple PhD positions are available in the laboratories of Jeff Lozier
and Janna Fierst at The University of Alabama as part of a recently
awarded NSF Rules of Life project: “Bumble bee cold tolerance across
elevations – From epigenotype to phenotype across space, time, and levels
of biological organization”. PhD students will be involved in studying
the links between genomic, epigenomic, and transcriptomic variation
in relation to local thermal tolerance adaptation in montane bumble
bees. The project will involve extensive high throughput sequencing
of bees from wild populations and experimental colonies and the use of
approaches like network theory to model and draw inferences from these
complex data. Students will develop questions relating to ecological and
evolutionary genomics within the broader project objectives. The focus
of the positions is flexible, and we expect there will be a great deal
of collaboration among project personnel.

We are looking to recruit highly motivated students with interests in
applying modern molecular and computational tools to address ecological
and evolutionary questions in a non-model organism. Applicants should
have a strong academic record (GPA > 3.0), an ability for clear verbal
and written communication, and a desire to learn new skills! Students
funded off the grant will participate in both laboratory molecular work
(primarily generation of RNAseq and genome sequencing libraries) and
computational analyses, and applicants should thus have some degree of
experience or interest in both aspects of the project.

The project will involve collaborations with Drs. Michael Dillon and
Franco Basile at the University of Wyoming, and James Strange at Ohio
State. As part of these collaborations there will be opportunities for
field work or experimental work with bumble bees, depending on student
interests and expertise.

Contact Jeff Lozier (jlozier@ua.edu) or Janna Fierst
(janna.l.fierst@ua.edu) for more information. Anticipated start date
will be Fall 2020, but we can be flexible.

Useful Links:
Lozier Lab: lozierlab.ua.edu
Fierst Lab: jfierst.people.ua.edu
U Alabama Biological Sciences: bsc.ua.edu