Research involves a lot of low-level decisions.   Our group focuses almost entirely on field work.   We think a good study starts with careful observations in the field, with a number of hypotheses in mind, and leads to careful experiments in the field, often to discriminate between a couple of these hypotheses.

People who like doing this sort of research like to be outdoors early in the morning or late at night and like to work independently, even sometimes solitarily.   Lots of moving and talking don't help when you want to study animal communication in the field.

Because we work in the field with animals' sounds, we all have to become both proficient field biologists (including identifying animals and plants) and basic electronics geeks (to keep our equipment running).

For undergraduates, there is another problem.   During the regular academic semesters, September to March, in North Carolina, most animals are in basic-survival mode.   The interesting communciation by animals occurs mostly in spring and summer.

My lab thus spends most of the regular academic year analyzing data collected during the previous spring and summer.   Few projects collect data or run experiments in the fall or winter (there have been exceptions though).   There are thus few opportunities for apprenticing with an ongoing project.

How can an undergraduate do research in my lab on this schedule?   There are several possibilities . . .

(1) We can figure out a project to do during the winter (a challenge but not impossible if the motivation is there).

(2) Qualified students can often obtain funds to conduct research during the summer ... even in exotic places.   We can work together on this process provided we leave ourselves enough time (proposals usually must be submitted 6 months or more in advance).

(3) A mathematically inclined student might develop a simulation of an interesting issue in communication (theoretical biology helps experimental biologists sharpen their hypotheses).

Undergraduates who would like to work in my research group should ...

take some relevant courses as soon as possible (especially courses that include some field work ... for instance, BIOL 201, 277/277L, 278/278L, or upper-level courses in ecology, evolution, or behavior).

try reading a paper or two from our group (or at least check the titles to see what might interest you) -- see the link on my homepage for selected publications (with links to pdf files).

visit our lab meetings (Wednesdays, 4:00-5:00 or 6:00, Wilson 321, very informal) and other departmental seminars.

allow time for a period of reading and brain-storming while developing a project.

allow time for doing a project twice or more ... the first time serves to identify the problems!

If you would like to try research ...

if you like animals outdoors ...

if you like to see the sun or the moon rise ...

if you can be happy when it rains and nothing happens except you get wet
(if you think this would be a good time to contemplate the big issues!) ...

if you like electronic gadgets or computers as well as animals ...

if you have the motivation to work around some of the constraints of the academic schedule

... my group would be glad to help out.

If you would just like to stop by for a talk about the future ... we can do that too.