Note: please do NOT apply to the SNRE graduate program to work with me without getting written confirmation from me that I am willing to be your advisor. We do not consider applications without support from an advisor and a confirmed plan for funding student stipends and tuition, so you are wasting your time and application fee if you do this.
That said, if you are interested in working with my research group, please get in touch—mentoring students is the most important and rewarding part of my job. Projects in my group will generally center on the ecology and conservation of mammals, but I am open to taking on students with a wide array of research interests--the study system is less important than the ecological question or concept that we can use that system to learn more about.
What I look for in mentees
It is an extraordinary privilege to be paid to think about how nature works, to design and carry out studies to improve our understanding of it, and to spend time working outdoors on cool critters in places like Arizona and Kenya. Like other creative fields (e.g., journalism, music, sports, art), far more people want this privilege than society is willing to pay a living wage to do it. So ecologists need to be very good at what they do if they want to make a reasonable living in the profession. It is therefore vital to (1) dedicate yourself to excelling at some part of the job many people find boring (e.g., statistics, writing, presentations, administrative minutiae), (2) learn how to accept and overcome failure, and (3) genuinely love nature and thinking about nature. The folks in my research group have a diversity of interests, backgrounds, and skill sets, but these are the qualities I look for in mentees and collaborators, in rough order of importance:
They are caring and thoughtful people who go out of their way to help others (to the point that others notice).
They are self-starters who go above and beyond what is asked of them (particularly in the less desirable parts of the job).
They are resilient enough to accept, overcome, and learn from stretches of repeated failure and rejection (it happens to us all).
They have a deep and abiding (sometimes verging on pathological) interest in figuring out how nature works.
They are above average writers who are interested in continuing to work to improve their communication skills.
They have above average analytical abilities, or want to work really hard to develop them.
What you should expect from me
My primary responsibility to my mentees is to maximize their odds of professional success. Only they can determine what professional success looks like, and it will look different for each person in my research group. I take this obligation extremely seriously, so mentees can expect early and regular conversations about their professional goals. I will then tailor my strategy to suit your goals. All that said, there are some basics mentees should expect from me:
Provide enough financial support (stipend, summer support, travel + research funding, etc.) that you can fulfill your research goals and can focus on research rather than personal finances.
Provide enough logistical support (help organizing permits, field vehicles, technicians, etc.) that you can fulfill your research goals.
Help you to design and implement your research.
Provide helpful feedback on manuscripts, grant proposals, and presentations as quickly as I can fit this into my schedule (usually within a week or so).
Meet with you regularly to discuss the particulars of your research or other aspects of ecology.
Organize regular group meetings with informal presentations and paper discussions.
Help you set goals for research and professional success.
Be honest and frank with you.
Work to build community within our research group and graduate program as a whole.
Provide opportunities to contribute to research projects outside your thesis/dissertation that suit your skills and interests.
What I will expect from you
I am investing a substantial chunk of my life in helping my mentees reach their professional goals. I do this because it's my moral duty, but I also have professional goals that I hope my mentees will help me to achieve. If you as a mentee want to reward my investment in you, you can do the following things (which, because I'm a flawed human like everyone else, will also keep me motivated to continue helping you--mutualisms are underrated forces in nature):
Publish manuscripts in peer-reviewed journals. Typically, I expect my MSc students to publish at least one paper in a good journal, and my PhD students to publish at least three papers in good journals (but more is better, if you can manage it—this is a floor, not a ceiling).
Identify sources of funding and apply for them when you can put the money to good use.
Develop a good understanding of the ecological literature, concerning both your specific thesis/dissertation topic and ecology and conservation more broadly.
Update me on your progress every 1-2 weeks.
Make sure you complete your coursework requirements, research permit applications, annual reports, expense reports, etc. on time without too many reminders or an exorbitant amount of work on my part.
Work hard to learn to use the foundational tools in our lab (e.g., Overleaf, GitHub, statistical analyses).
Tell me when I can do something better as your advisor.
Try to avoid making the same mistake twice or (especially) more.
Prioritize the important stuff (e.g., finishing your thesis/dissertation, submitting papers, maintaining professional relationships) over the unimportant (e.g., pointless meetings, a fifth side project).
Preserve some time for activities and interests outside of ecology (e.g., family, church, music, sports, art, etc.). I want my mentees to be interesting, fulfilled people.
Contacting Me About Graduate School
My graduate students will receive their degrees from the School of Natural Resources and the Environment. I cannot fund students entirely with teaching assistantships, so I will not accept students without having first secured enough research assistantship funding to feel confident that they will be adequately supported for their entire graduate degree. When I have enough funding for a new student, I will post a job ad on the Texas A&M wildlife job board, but I still encourage folks to reach out if they are interested in doing their graduate research in my group, particularly if they are able to bring their own financial support (e.g., with NSF Graduate Research Fellowships, DOD National Defense Science and Engineering Fellowship, DOE Computational Science Fellowships, NASA FINESST awards, Fulbright Fellowships, etc.). If you just want to express interest in working in the group, send me a short email explaining your interests and attach a CV. I am also happy to help motivated applicants write proposals to secure their own funding.
Note: I typically cannot accept PhD students without an MSc degree and am unlikely to accept MSc students directly from undergrad, but don't rule yourself out just for these reasons (others won't).
Contacting me about postdoctoral research
I am also always interested in hearing from prospective postdocs. Just like with graduate positions, if I have funding, I will post an ad on the Texas A&M wildlife job board, but I can let promising candidates know in advance if it looks like I will have funding for postdocs in the near-ish future. I am also always happy to work with postdocs to secure independent funding (via NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowships in Biology, David H. Smith Fellowships, L’Oreal Women in Science Fellowships, USDA NIFA Postdoctoral Fellowships, etc.). If you are interested in pursuing this option, send me an email containing a short explanation of an idea you'd like to pursue, a pathway for pursuing it (e.g., a link to a funding source), and a CV with contact information for at least three references.
Contacting me about undergraduate research
I and the other researchers in my group love to work with promising undergraduate researchers. If I have dedicated funding for this, I will advertise it in my classes and in the SNRE building. If you are interested in working with me, please check out the Summer Research Institute program, Undergraduate Biology Research Program, UROC-PREP program, McNair Scholars program, Biology Research Abroad: Vistas Open! program, Doris Duke Conservation Scholars program, and NASA Space Grant Program. If you are interested in pursuing any of these options, send me an email describing your interests and a resume.
My email address is jmalston at arizona dot edu.