I am very interested in finding 2-3 exceptional individuals to work in
my laboratory, as graduate students, at the University of
Nebraska-Lincoln, some time in the next few years. There is no
existing funding for such people at the moment, but I am convinced it
is easier to find money than to find unusual human beings. Let me
explain:
We have a reasonably active research program on the gregarine
(Protista: Apicomplexa) parasites of insects. Past graduate students'
studies have focused on the gregarines of odonates, orthopterans, and
coleopterans. These students have worked in a variety of areas,
including parasite ecology, taxonomy, comparative life histories,
electron microscopy, and experimental cell biology, using the
gregarine-insect systems. They have also gone on to excellent
opportunities elsewhere when they've completed their work.
Insect-gregarine host-parasite systems are largely unexplored, and
there are a great many truly fine MS and PhD problems that await the
right person. That person, however, must have a deep and abiding love
for insects and a predilection for fairly difficult problems. If you
are not truly fascinated with your hosts, then you are in trouble in
the gregarine business.
At the moment, I am most interested in finding an intelligent,
capable, articulate, self-confident individual who has an almost
addictive fascination with small beetles, and who might be curious
about the scholarly opportunities available in our laboratory. My
chances of finding money are somewhat proportional, of course, to a
student's GPA and GRE scores. Please write to me by regular mail if
you consider yourself such an individual and have any interest
whatsoever in doing experimental work with small coleopterans and
their parasites. The address is:
John Janovy, Jr.
School of Biological Sciences
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Lincoln, NE 68588-0118
Upon initial contact, I will forward some reprints and a letter
outlining in more detail the kind of working environment, scientific
and instructional philosophy, and professional expectations found in
our lab. Please do not write unless you are either committed to, or
completely receptive to, working with insects, particularly
coleopterans, for a significant portion of the rest of your life, and
find parasitological problems to be rewarding intellectual challenges.
Representative publications from our program can be found in the
Journal of Eukaryotic Microbiology and the Journal of Parasitology
over the past few years; the senior authors are former students R. E.
Clopton, T. R. Ruhnke, S. Richardson and (in press) T. Percival.
Thanks in advance.
JJJr
