For Current Students
For Incoming Students
Thank you for your interest in the Naithani Lab. I am looking for creative and collaborative students and postdocs who share research interests with me, but not necessarily work on the same systems or questions as I do. I am open to ideas and interested in advising students and postdoctoral fellows with diverse academic disciplines and various career plans (e.g., academia, education, government agencies, and industry). I mentor students through three interdisciplinary degree programs (Biology (BISC), Environmnetal Dynamics (ENDY), and Biological Analytics (STAN)). Please see the research projects page for a detailed description of our research.
The successful applicants will show adeptness at either field based approaches or mathematical and computational tools necessary to work with large datasets. Knowledge of R, WinBUGS, JAGS, python, ArcGIS or interest in learning these tools is required. I strongly encourage you to visit our publications and research projects pages before contacting me.
Graduate Certifications at the UofA: Graduate students in our group often earn graduate level certificate in their chosen career track. Some of them include Sustainability, Entrepreneurship, Geospatial Technologies, and Preparing for the Professoriate
Graduate and Postdoctoral Positions: I am also open to inquiries about developing projects for graduate (NSF GRF) and postdoctoral (NSF and USDA) fellowships. In addition, U of A has competitive Doctoral Fellowships for students with GRE score > 305 and GRE Writing score > 4.
How to Apply: Please send the queries about the positions and/or following materials to Dr. Kusum Naithani via email <kusum@uark.edu>.
Cover letter describing your interest in the position, your background, and what you would like to learn from this position. For post-docs, please also describe how you see this type of position fitting into your larger professional goals.
Resume (1-5 pages) that includes the following information:
contact information including your phone and email.
prior job experience
published or submitted publications
contact information (name, address, email, and phone) of two professional references.
GRE Score (> 305 and GRE Writing score > 4) if applying for a graduate student position.
In addition, IELTS (minimum 7 in all categories) or TOEFL (minimum 26 in all categories) score is required for international students.
Undergraduate Research Positions: Students can gain research experience in the Naithani Lab by: 1) volunteering; 2) working as a paid research technician; 3) conducting research for course credit – Senior or Honors Thesis.
Honors Thesis: For Undergraduate Honors Thesis, please stop by my office. I strongly encourage you to apply for Honors College Research Grant and SURF Grant, so working in the lab a semester before the application deadline is recommended. Honors students usually finish their thesis in 1.5 - 2 years. So start early.
REU Positions: Please visit EcoREU website for NSF funded summer projects and apply here for travel funding to attend a scientific conference after finishing your REU project.
Mentoring Style: I strongly believe in a stepwise mentoring. After joining the Naithani Lab, I will work with you to develop a research program that matches your experience, expectations, and career goals. I hold weekly meetings with all members of my lab for problem solving and progress updates. I also have an open door policy and I welcome all members of my lab to contact me if additional help is needed.
I encourage postdoctoral fellows in my lab to develop a mentoring plan focused on their short term and long term goals and their expectation from the position in my lab. I strongly encourage you to participate in grant writing, teaching, mentoring and outreach activities within and outside my lab.
I encourage graduate students (at any level of education) to work with me on my ongoing projects in order to gain experience in scientific inquiry and develop intuition for different ecological systems. This will help you in publishing early and gaining valuable knowledge, even if you will never work in that system again. As you start developing your own project, I will help you, and expect you, to take leadership of your project and become more independent. I require all graduate students to TA for at least 1 semester regardless of their funding source. Graduate assistants are typically supported by a mix of teaching and research assistantships.
I encourage undergraduate students to undertake small projects integrated with graduate or postdoctoral research in my lab. If you elect to pursue independent project I will assist you in choosing and designing your project.
As an advisor, I assist all members of my lab in acquiring tools, accessing resources, and provide advice, and intellectual flexibility needed to transition into successful and independent scientists. I expect my lab members to be an active participant in the intellectual environment of the Naithani Lab, the Department of Biological Sciences, the University of Arkansas, and to be conscientious and professional members of the scientific community as a whole.
So, if you are interested in joining the Naithani Lab at U of A, send me an email <kusum@uark.edu> or stop by my office (737 Science and Engineering). I am happy to talk with you about your interests.
Choosing an advisor, a lab, and a university is an important career decision. Below are some resources that may be useful for you to make choices about your scientific career and professional development. All the Best!
