The lab is open as of Fall 2024 and I am recruiting folks at multiple levels. If you have any questions, please reach out directly to JL (jackie.weissman@stonybrook.edu).

Postdocs

If you are interested in the work we do, I would be more than happy to work with you to develop proposals for postdoc fellowships relevant to the work our lab does. This is one good resource for finding fellowships. Please reach out if you are interested in developing such a proposal. In particular, I’d be very happy to work with someone to put together a proposal to the NSF PRFB or the Simons Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship in Marine Microbial Ecology. Prior to coming to SBU, I was the Director of Proposal Development at the City College of New York, where part of my job was training early career scientists how to submit successful grant and fellowship proposals. I see such training as an important part of your postdoctoral journey; grant-writing skills are essential within academia, and are also very transferable to non-academic career paths. In case it isn’t clear - I am very supportive of trainees following the path of their choosing, whether that takes them to industry, government, non-profit, higher ed admin, or academia in its many forms. I’ll work with you to build the skills and experience you need to be successful on that path.

PhD Students

I am looking to recruit at least one PhD student for the Fall 2024 application cycle, to start in Fall 2025. I primarily recruit through the Ecology & Evolution program, though could potentially arrange to take students from other programs at SBU.

A basic expectation when applying for a position in my group as a PhD student is that you have done computational research before and have a clear idea of why you want to pursue a PhD in my group specifically. I ask that students have some prior experience in computational research (broadly defined) because a PhD is a massive investment of your time and effort, and it is important that you know going in that the kind of work we do is a good fit for you. I am open to taking students from a range of academic backgrounds as long as you have a strong justification for why our lab is a good fit for your research interests.

If you are interested in working with me, I strongly recommend that you reach out to me to discuss applying in late summer/early fall. In general, this is an expectation of nearly all PhD mentors in Ecology & Evolution, though it often goes unstated. At the very least, you should reach out before the December application deadline so we can chat about whether my mentorship style is a good fit for you and whether your research interests are a good fit for the lab. I try to meet with all students who express an interest in the lab to answer questions about our research and lab culture (this is not an interview), but all admissions decisions will be made by the relevant PhD program (I cannot guarantee you a spot in any program at Stony Brook).

I know it can be a little intimidating to cold-email a prospective PhD mentor. Please don’t let that stop you from reaching out! I really do want to hear from you. Here are some things that would be great if you could include in that email (a few lines each is fine, I don’t need an essay):

• Some introduction to who you are and what you are studying or have studied in the past
• Why you are interested in pursuing a PhD specifically in my group?
• Have you done research before? On what? What did you like about it? What didn’t you like about it?
• What topics would you potentially want to study in my group? (these can change over time, but nice to have an idea where your head is at)
• How do you feel about working in a 100% computational lab? Do you have any exposure to computational biology? What skills might you need to spend some time building in the first year or two of your PhD?
• What are your career plans post-PhD? (again, I expect these will change over time, so don’t worry too much about this one)

Hopefully, by the time you are done answering these questions you will have a head-start for writing your personal statement for the PhD application!

Undergraduate Students

Are you a Stony Brook undergraduate student? Did you think some of the stuff on this website was interesting? Consider joining the lab! We are a computational biology lab but no experience in computational biology or coding is required to join the lab at the undergraduate level. If you are enthusiastic about learning about these topics, we can train you. I firmly believe anyone can be a great computational biologist. Most of the undergraduate students I have worked with in the past started out with absolutely zero coding experience, but quickly learned with hands-on training and a cool question in front of them. I am happy to have biologists, environmental scientists, computer scientists, and mathematicians join the lab (and even people from totally different fields if computational biology has caught your eye).

All summer students who work with me will be paid (I will not take unpaid volunteers). Unfortunately, this may limit available positions. Depending on the summer I may have funding to pay one or more students to work with me. Otherwise, I encourage you to apply for summer research programs available at SBU.

While the lab is being set up in Fall 2024, we are not taking undergraduate researchers during the semester unless they are working on thesis/senior projects. Check back in the winter or spring for potential spring/summer openings.