Systematics and Herpetology in Washington, D.C.

The Pyron Lab at The George Washington University seeks Master's and
doctoral students for the Fall of 2012 who are interested in historical
biogeography, phylogeography, and the theory and practice of systematics.
Graduate students will be part of the Robert Weintraub Program in
Systematics and Evolution in the Department of Biological Sciences, a joint
graduate program of GWU and the National Museum of Natural History at the
Smithsonian. The major areas of research in my lab are global and regional
drivers of biodiversity, speciation processes and phylogeographic patterns,
and the development of statistical methods in phylogenetics and systematics.
I invite students to develop their own fully-fledged, independent research
projects along these lines. Empirical research in the lab primarily focuses
on reptiles and amphibians.
The program at GWU offers fantastic opportunities for anyone interested in
systematics and evolutionary biology. In addition to my research, faculty in
the department work on a wide variety of topics in evolution. The Weintraub
program is affiliated with the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural
History, providing for SI curators to co-advise students, and access to one
of the best natural history collections in the world. Finally, Washington,
D.C. is full of historical, cultural, and culinary amenities. The biology
buildings are only four blocks west of the White House.
If you are interested, please go to my website (http://www.colubroid.org/)
for more information. Various funding opportunities are available for
well-qualified applicants. Experience with molecular, computational, and
field collection techniques is an important consideration. Interested
persons should email me with a CV, research interests, and GRE scores. The
deadline for application to GWU is 15 January 2012.