I actively recruit students to my lab at the undergraduate, graduate and post-doc levels. Although my students have mostly focused on research in ground squirrels or polar bears, I have also supervised students on projects ranging from hunting in snakes to sociality in hippos. I am happy to supervise students in systems other than squirrels.
Undergraduates: I am happy to recruit undergraduates to my lab as either volunteers or NSERC/FOS UREs. I actively encourage my students to conduct research in the field, whether they are honours students or not, with the goal of publishing the results. For research overseas (Africa, Canary Islands) I require the student to have some sort of funding (NSERC/FOS or U of M URA). If you don't know what these funding opportunities are about, come see me and we can discuss them. In the past 5 years I have taken 12 undergraduates to my field site in South Africa. I also accept student to work on more local projects, including research on Richardson's ground squirrels or on our polar bear database. My door is always totally open to any student who has a passion about animal behaviour, ecology, and evolution.
Graduate students: I am always looking for students at the Master's or PhD level to join the lab, particularly to study questions related to mating systems, sociality and the ecology of ground squirrels in Africa and North America. The purpose of this research is to test critical hypotheses about the evolution of social behaviour using a combination of behavioral, physiological and molecular techniques. The social systems of the African ground squirrels are unique because males form amicable all-male social groups that persist throughout the year and in the southern African species, females live in kin groups with cooperative breeding. The project in Africa requires students to spend time at a field site in South Africa, while the project in the Canary Islands requires field work on the island of Fuerteventura.
My philosophy in mentoring: Graduate education is about learning the process of independent research. I expect that PhD students will develop their own hypotheses and project ideas. I provide MSc students with as much independence in project development as is appropriate, but they will often require more feedback and direction. Undergraduates in my lab will require the most mentoring, as they learn the foundations of developing a rationale and hypotheses. All students are encouraged to attend lab meetings, where we can work as a group to discuss recent research, techniques or the skills that make one successful in future careers in biology.
Undergraduates: I am happy to recruit undergraduates to my lab as either volunteers or NSERC/FOS UREs. I actively encourage my students to conduct research in the field, whether they are honours students or not, with the goal of publishing the results. For research overseas (Africa, Canary Islands) I require the student to have some sort of funding (NSERC/FOS or U of M URA). If you don't know what these funding opportunities are about, come see me and we can discuss them. In the past 5 years I have taken 12 undergraduates to my field site in South Africa. I also accept student to work on more local projects, including research on Richardson's ground squirrels or on our polar bear database. My door is always totally open to any student who has a passion about animal behaviour, ecology, and evolution.
Graduate students: I am always looking for students at the Master's or PhD level to join the lab, particularly to study questions related to mating systems, sociality and the ecology of ground squirrels in Africa and North America. The purpose of this research is to test critical hypotheses about the evolution of social behaviour using a combination of behavioral, physiological and molecular techniques. The social systems of the African ground squirrels are unique because males form amicable all-male social groups that persist throughout the year and in the southern African species, females live in kin groups with cooperative breeding. The project in Africa requires students to spend time at a field site in South Africa, while the project in the Canary Islands requires field work on the island of Fuerteventura.
My philosophy in mentoring: Graduate education is about learning the process of independent research. I expect that PhD students will develop their own hypotheses and project ideas. I provide MSc students with as much independence in project development as is appropriate, but they will often require more feedback and direction. Undergraduates in my lab will require the most mentoring, as they learn the foundations of developing a rationale and hypotheses. All students are encouraged to attend lab meetings, where we can work as a group to discuss recent research, techniques or the skills that make one successful in future careers in biology.