Reptile disease and immunology Ph.D. Student Position at Arkansas State University

The Neuman-Lee Lab (https://neumanleelab.weebly.com/)  is actively recruiting a Ph.D. student interested in disease ecology, immunology, and physiology in reptiles. The successful candidate would work with the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission and multiple Arkansas institutions to screen wild reptiles across Arkansas and examine immunological and endocrinological consequences of disease presence. Potential projects could also include work at the Memphis Zoo and the Little Rock Zoo. The successful candidate would be ideally interested in a mix of laboratory work and field work.
 
The successful candidate will work under an NSF Research Traineeship called UandI-DEECoDE (pronounced “You and I decode”), which stands for Understanding Invasion and Disease Ecology and Evolution through Computational Data Education. This Research Traineeship aims to address the absence of interdisciplinarity across invasion biology, disease ecology, and data science by effectively bridging these disciplines and improving the pace and magnitude of scientific discovery across these fields (https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2151820&HistoricalAwards=false).
 

• As a funded doctoral trainee in the UandI-DEECoDE program, the successful applicant will have access to funds for travel and research, along with funding through the NSF Award and Arkansas State University to fund a competitive stipend, tuition, and fees. The trainee will be responsible for being a teaching assistant for one laboratory course per semester.
• Trainees will be able to participate in a student leadership committee to help ensure the program’s longevity and that students’ needs are being met. Additionally, annual winter data bootcamps and summer professional development institutes will be organized. These will be opportunities for funded and non-funded students to collaborate on scientific case studies, hear guest speakers, and present research ideas or findings.

 
The Neuman-Lee lab is committed to creating an inclusive, diverse, and equitable environment for students from all backgrounds. Students from backgrounds traditionally underrepresented are especially encouraged to apply and/or reach out to Dr. Neuman-Lee about the application procedures. 

Details on the resources available to the Neuman-Lee lab are found below.
 
Arkansas State University (https://www.astate.edu/) is a comprehensive, state-supported, doctoral university with a high level of research activity (R2). The Department of Biological Sciences has nearly 500 undergraduate and 60 graduate students across Biology, Environmental Sciences, and Molecular BioSciences graduate programs (see below for links to those programs). Jonesboro is a community of nearly 80,000 people located in Northeast Arkansas, amid the Mississippi Alluvial Plain and Crowley’s Ridge ecoregions. We are a 1-hour drive away from Memphis, Tennessee, and the Ozark Highlands. Jonesboro boasts being a regional center for quality healthcare, having a variety of dining and entertainment options, a low cost of living, and plenty of recreational opportunities.

Prospective Students

       The Neuman-Lee lab is recruiting highly motivated and passionate students for entry into the MS and/or PhD Program in Biological Sciences at Arkansas State University to address questions at the intersection of immunology and endocrinology. The Neuman-Lee lab addresses these questions in a variety of contexts, including using anthropogenic and natural stressors. Students should expect to work in both the field and the lab. Reptiles and amphibians are the primary model species, although work addressing relevant questions with other organisms may be possible. 
 
Students in the Neuman-Lee lab will have resources available to them such as:

• A state-of-the-art ecotoxicological facility (https://www.astate.edu/college/sciences-and-mathematics/ecotoxicology-research-facility/)
• The Arkansas Biosciences Institute, which is a core facility that provides equipment for proteomics, genomics, imaging, flow cytometry, and tissue culture (http://www.astate.edu/a/abi/)
• A histological lab
• An extensive natural history collection (https://www.astate.edu/news/national-science-foundation-approves-5-48-million-in-grants-for-biodiversity-projects-led-by-a-state-researchers)
• A huge variety of field locations that expand across ecological gradients.