Opportunities

I am currently welcoming inquiries from prospective postdoctoral associates, and graduate students interested in joining the lab, as well as seasonal field assistants. I am particularly interested in individuals who have research interests that are compatible with the conceptual focus of the Holland lab. While I encourage lab members to work with me on the population and community ecology of mutualism in the Sonoran Desert, by no means is this a prerequisite to join the Holland lab. Texas and the greater Houston area provide many natural areas from which to develop research projects. Moreover, despite popular thought (often by persons never having visited), Houston is an exciting, fun place to live, with much culture and a great living environment. Houston, it's cooler than you think!

Postdoctoral Associates

Occasionally postdoctoral funds may be available for particular projects in the lab, but most often postdocs will attain independent fellowships and grants. If you are currently completing or have recently completed your Ph.D., and have strong interests in the research program of the Holland lab, then I encourage you to contact me so that we may discuss and pursue potential funding sources. When making inquiries, please include your curriculum vitae and indicate how your research interests intersect with those of the Holland lab.

Prospective Graduate Students

Over the next few years I am interested in accepting a few graduate students into my lab who are motivated, hardworking, collaborative, and committed to and enthusiastic about their graduate studies. Graduate students in the Holland lab are welcome to develop independent projects or research projects closely associated with on-going work in the lab. I am particularly interested in graduate students who wish to study research topics aligned with those of the Holland lab, ranging for example from the evolutionary, population, and community ecology of mutualism to pollination biology and plant ecology of the Sonoran Desert. The best way to assure that your interests are a good fit with the Holland lab is to become familiar with this website and posted reprints of our publications.

I do not expect graduate students to arrive at Rice with a definitive dissertation project, but I do expect students to have a general idea of the research topics and questions that interest them. I encourage research projects that have a strong conceptual foundation and test theory with experiments, though not at the expense of natural history. I advise and work as closely as needed with students to develop projects that fit their research interests and professional goals. I encourage students to think independently, but to collaborate with me and others in the lab and department; to be creative and focused on their research, but to maintain breadth and a big-picture of their research; and to disseminate research in a timely manner by attending conferences and publishing in scholarly journals. I support students in the Holland lab generously with my time and research funds. Nevertheless, I expect all students to actively apply for external fellowships and grants to support their graduate education and training.

If you think your research interests are compatible with the Holland lab and the graduate program at Rice, please feel free to contact me to discuss your application and to answer any questions. Students applying for graduate studies in the Holland lab should identify me as a potential advisor in their application, including why your research interests are aligned with those in the Holland lab and what your career ambitions are. The graduate program of the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Rice University typically does not accept students without financial support, so competition can be keen for these limited resources. Admission to our program requires being accepted by a graduate admissions committee and usually the sponsorship of a faculty member. For more information about our graduate program, including online application materials, see our graduate study webpage. Prospective students should also review websites of other faculty and labs, as our department has growing strengths, synergism, and complementarity among multiple research topics, including among others interspecific mutualism, intraspecific cooperation (social evolution), plant-insect interactions, invasive species, genomics, molecular evolution, and organismal strengths in plants, insects, and microbes.

Below are some links that provide some guidance on being a successful graduate student.

"Some Modest Advice for Graduate Students" (by Stephen C. Stearns), the "Reply to Stearns: Some Acynical Advice for Graduate Students" (by Raymond B. Huey), and subsequent responses by Binkley and then Witz.  The first two essays by Stearns and Huey are based on their 1976 presentations at an informal lunch seminar in the Department of Zoology, University of California, Berkeley, which were later published in the Bulletin of the Ecological Society of America.  The latter two essays are responses to the publications in the Bulletin.  pdf

Dr. John Thompson's advice
Dr. Christine Boake's advice
Question's to ask when thinking about pursuing a Ph.D.