A big brown bat (Eptesicus fuscus) having its wing measured with calipers.
Pilot Knob, Missouri — one of our field sites.
✰ Prospective graduate students ☽
✰ Prospective students should confirm with me before submitting an application to the university. Applicants without either prior field or research experience are encouraged to seek out these entry-level opportunities elsewhere before applying. ✰
Students should have an interest in pursuing research on a topic described in the lab research interests and conducting field work with bats (or another species with which they have expertise).
Possible topics for exploration include:
Evolution of bats in response to white-nose syndrome (example)
Population genetics of threatened species of bats, like gray bats
Behavioral responses of bats to human-altered environments
How species' seasonal adaptations are influenced by human-altered environments
For more about Missouri State's Department of Biology Master's program, see here. Interested applicants should email a copy of their CV and short paragraph describing their research interests (gauteri [at] umich.edu). Applicants considered on a rolling basis.
Undergraduate researcher Carly Trujillo with some mist-net by-catch — an Indigo Bunting.
✰ Prospective undergraduate researchers ✰
There are opportunities for undergraduates to join the lab as paid workers or to earn course credits toward their degree completion. Students help with fieldwork, lab work, collecting data from videos of bats, data entry, and field equipment maintenance. After building your skills and familiarizing yourself with research, undergraduates in the lab have the opportunity to undertake their own research projects.
Students may also join lab activities as unpaid volunteers. Volunteers have fewer responsibilities but also fewer opportunities for direct mentorship. Students may start off as volunteers (often joining us for fieldwork support or field equipment maintenance in the off-season), then transition to a paid/for-credit position in the lab.
☽ Postdoctoral researchers ☽
I do not currently have funding for post docs but am happy to work with candidates to secure funding, for instance through NSF postdoctoral programs. I am particularly interested in applicants with skillsets in bioinformatics.