The Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Notre Dame offers a wide range of research opportunities and graduate coursework in ecology and evolutionary biology, allowing students to excel in field, laboratory, and mathematical biology. Strengths of the program include: studies on the dynamics and divergence of populations, evolutionary and ecological genomics, terrestrial and aquatic community and ecosystem ecology, epidemiology and disease ecology, experimental biology, and the impacts of global changes, including climate change, invasive species, and land use change. Our close-knit faculty provides interdisciplinary research opportunities and excellent research mentorship.
Our students take advantage of many resources at Notre Dame, including excellent laboratory facilities in the Hank Family Center for Environmental Studies and state-of-the-art instrumentation in our Center for Environmental Science and Technology (CEST; https://cest.nd.edu), the Genomics & Bioinformatics Core Facility (http://genomics.nd.edu), the Center for Research Computing (http://CRC.nd.edu), and the Notre Dame Linked Experimental Ecosystem Facility (ND-LEEF). Other hubs of EEE research include the University of Notre Dame Environmental Research Center (UNDERC; http://underc.nd.edu/) with sites located in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and western Montana and the Notre Dame Environmental Change Initiative (http://environmentalchange.nd.edu/). Numerous opportunities for interdisciplinary interactions among research areas are available, including our GLOBES graduate training program (http://reilly.nd.edu/globes/) and the REACT program, which provides funding to support student training in computational techniques.
The following faculty members have vigorous graduate programs in:
Beth Archie – behavioral ecology, population biology, microbiome dynamics
Gary Belovsky – terrestrial ecology and modeling, conservation biology
Nora Besansky – evolutionary, ecological and functional genomics of malaria vectors
Sunny Boyd – behavorial ecology, neuroendocrinology and behavioral neuroscience
Jeff Feder – ecological and evolutionary genetics, speciation
Mike Ferdig – systems genetics of malaria parasite drug resistance
Hope Hollocher – population genetics, disease ecology, and microbiome interactions
Stuart Jones – aquatic microbial and ecosystem ecology
Cristian Koepfli – molecular epidemiology of infectious disease
Gary Lamberti – stream and wetland ecology, ecotoxicology, and plant-animal interactions
Jason McLachlan – ecology and evolution of plant populations, statistical modeling, paleoecology
David Medvigy – terrestrial ecosystem modeling, ecosystem-climate interactions
Alex Perkins – disease ecology, epidemiological modeling, population biology of disease vectors
Mike Pfrender – ecological and evolutionary genomics, adaptation, phenotypic plasticity
Matt Ravosa – evolution and pathobiology of the mammalian skull and musculoskeletal system
Adrian Rocha – arctic terrestrial ecology
Jeanne Romero-Severson – genomics of adaptive variation in natural populations of forest trees
Jennifer Tank - stream ecosystem ecology and biogeochemistry
All graduate students are funded with competitive stipends. A variety of fellowship opportunities are open to top applicants. For more information regarding the Biology Graduate Program see http://biology.nd.edu/ and http://graduateschool.nd.edu/. The deadline for receipt of all application materials for the Ph.D. program is December 1st, 2018, although earlier submission is encouraged to ensure full consideration for available fellowships. Please begin your application by directly contacting faculty of interest.
