Information for Prospective Students

Graduate Students

Welcome to the Funk Lab, and thanks for your interest in our program!  Thanks to the hard work and vision of faculty and grad students in Biology at William & Mary, our department now has an excellent graduate program and community.  Below, I provide some information on my advising philosophy and approach that should help you decide whether you’d be interested in working in our group.

What I’m looking for and expect:
I am looking for extremely motivated graduate students who are passionate about addressing important and original research questions in evolution, ecology, and conservation.  I expect my graduate students to be ready to engage fully in their research and education, and interact broadly both within and outside of our lab with other researchers.  In our lab, we value independent thought, critical discussion of all aspects of science, creativity, and originality.  Science is conducted in a social context, and students will be expected to learn how to communicate their ideas clearly and concisely both in writing and presentations.  In evaluating students, I am more interested in students that demonstrate independent thinking, hard work, project completion, writing ability, and creativity than I am in grades or courses.

Projects:
I expect graduate students to develop their own independent research projects because my goal is to help students succeed as independent scientists.  Students are welcome to work on the same systems I do, but need to develop their own questions.  For me to be an effective advisor, however, students should have interests that overlap my own interests in population divergence, speciation, landscape genetics, phylogeography, and conservation.  If these interests overlap yours, then, in collaboration with other faculty at William and Mary (see Faculty Directory) with backgrounds in ecology, evolution, and behavior, we can work out an advising team with the expertise you need to successfully execute your project.

Funding:
Graduate students in my lab are supported by Fellowships, TAs, and/or RAs.  I expect graduate students to actively seek funding to support their project.  Writing grant proposals forces us to think and write clearly, define ideas concisely, and support statements.  Learning how to acquire funding is also an essential skill regardless which career path one chooses in biology.

If you are interested in working in our lab, please email me and let me know what question you are interested in, and why.   E-mail:  wcfunk(at)wm.edu


Undergraduates

I am also looking for extremely motivated undergraduate students who are passionate about evolution, conservation, and ecology, and who want to actively engage in research.  Our lab integrates population genetics, field biology, experiments, and computational approaches to address basic and applied questions in these fields.  Undergraduates in our lab will have opportunities to develop diverse research skills, but at the same time will be expected to engage fully in the research, including lab meetings, scientific meetings, and communicating with other researchers inside and outside of our lab.

Undergraduates can join the lab either by signing up for credit (BIOL 403 Research in Biology) or through one of the many undergraduate research internships and fellowships available at William and Mary (see Undergraduate Funding and Awards).  Undergraduate students are expected to commit to at least one year in our lab, and ideally more.  I am particularly interested in recruiting freshman and sophomores who want to work in our lab for multiple years while at William and Mary.  Working in the same lab for several years is an ideal way to develop advanced lab and field skills and in depth research experience that will give you an edge in getting into and succeeding in grad school and beyond.

I will start taking undergraduate students in the spring 2008 semester.  If you are interested in becoming part of our lab, email me with your research interests, goals, and reasons why you want to work in our lab.  E-mail:  wcfunk(at)wm.edu