We are recruiting new M.S. and Ph.D. students. Prospective students should carefully review the information on the Graduate Program in Integrative Biology including application information, financial assistance and career advice. In all cases, students must follow the application procedure of the Graduate College and note relevant deadlines (applications for admission in the upcoming fall semester are generally due on February 1). Students will only be admitted into the Integrative Biology Graduate Program if they have the support of a faculty member. Therefore, students interested in our research group should contact Dr. Reichert well ahead of the application deadline (here is some advice on how to write an introduction email to a professor if you aren’t quite sure what to say). Please send an email with a current CV, along with a brief statement describing any previous research experience, motivation for attending graduate school and in particular for joining our research group, and an outline of the type(s) of projects you would particularly be interested in pursuing. Students should read carefully the description of our research along with a few recent papers to get a better idea of what we do.

Most students are supported by a 9-month teaching assistantship throughout their studies. Research assistantships and summer funding support may also be available in some cases. Eligible students are also strongly encouraged to apply for funding from external funding agencies including: NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program, Ford Foundation Fellowship Program, NIH Research Training Grants. These all provide prestigious awards to support independent research during graduate studies.

We support and strongly encourage applications from students from groups traditionally underrepresented in the sciences. Students from these groups are especially encouraged to be in contact and we will work with you to find opportunities for you to carry out your graduate studies in our group.

Some really good general advice on applying to graduate school in ecology/evolution/behavior here and here.

Some notes and advice from Dr. Reichert:

I am very interested in mentoring graduate students with the aim of developing colleagues capable of performing high-quality independent research. Students will be encouraged to develop their independence by applying for research grants, attending conferences, publishing their work, and engaging in professional development. I will provide full support and mentoring for students interested in an academic career, but students should be aware of the realities of a very tough academic job market (see this list of pros and cons by Brian O’Meara, which sums it up nicely) and I also encourage students to develop skills that will be useful regardless of their ultimate career choice. Our research focuses on acoustic communication in frogs and insects but I am happy to serve as an advisor for students wishing to pursue their own research interests or study species, provided that I am still able to give them good advice and provide sufficient facilities for their research.

The Department of Integrative Biology at Oklahoma State is an excellent place for pursuing an MS or Ph.D. Among its advantages are a low cost of living and a safe, relaxed environment. The state has high levels of biodiversity and habitat diversity, providing a wealth of study species. Students sharing our interest in frogs will find a large number of species in the area (Oklahoma Herp Checklist). Very importantly, the research interests of the faculty in the department are highly complementary and OSU maintains a supportive and collaborative atmosphere, including a very active graduate student society. This means that students will benefit from the support of not only our research group but also can potentially engage with a number of other excellent research groups to develop integrative and collaborative projects.