Postdoctoral research with the Yoder Lab

Medicago truncatula plants in a climate-controlled growth chamber.

In addition to recruiting graduate students, the Yoder Lab is open to postdoctoral researchers interested in coevolution and ecological genomics. I don’t currently have funding designated to support postdocs, but I’m eager to work with prospective postdoctoral researchers to apply for independent funding through one of the opportunities listed below, or another of your choosing.

Why the Yoder Lab?

You should come to the Yoder Lab if you want to study how interdependent species shape each other’s evolution and how adaptation to different biotic and abiotic environments creates and maintains biodiversity. I’m interested in helping postdoctoral researchers develop new study systems, too, with projects anywhere on the range from “pure” evolutionary genetics to highly specific applied work in conservation and global change biology. The Department of Biology at CSU Northridge has a strong Ecology and Evolution group and you can also develop collaborative interactions in other areas including microbiology, molecular genetics, and physiology — as well as opportunities for mentoring and teaching experience with a diverse and engaged student body.

Funding opportunities

PI Jeremy Yoder inspects a Joshua tree inflorescence during his very first field season in 2006.

The National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Research Fellowships in Biology are open to U.S. citizens who are about to complete a PhD, or have recently completed one, and provide funding for research expenses as well as postdoctoral salary. Applications come due in November. Full details are at the NSF website.

The David H. Smith Conservation Research Fellowship Program of the Society for Conservation Biology and the Cedar Tree Foundation provides support for postdocs to “Build productive partnerships with conservation practitioners; and … Contribute and communicate scientific knowledge to problems of critical importance in conservation” with dual mentoring from an academic scientist and a conservation practitioner. I’d expect to be the academic mentor, and Yoder Lab collaborators through the Joshua Tree Genome Project include some excellent options for mentoring in conservation practice. Smith Fellowships include two years of salary and benefits as well as generous funding for travel, training, and research. Applications come due in September, with candidate interviews early in the new year. Full details are at the Smith Fellows website.

The Ruth L. Kirschstein Postdoctoral Individual National Research Service Award through the National Institutes of Health could be a good fit for theory or simulation projects related to host-symbiont coevolution and population genomics. It’s open to U.S. citizens, and provides a stipend and funds for training. Applications are accepted three times a year, in early April, August, and December — it’s recommended to start the process up to two months ahead. Full details are at the NIH website