Subject: Funded M.S. position: the microbial role in host macroevolution (ENMU, Spring 2027)
What: A funded M.S. project on how microbes contribute to evolutionary novelties and constraints in turtles and amphibians.
Where: The Microbial Ecology and Macroevolution Group in the Department of Biology at Eastern New Mexico University (Portales, NM, USA) is offering a funded M.S. position beginning Spring 2027. Fieldwork opportunities in Panama and Ecuador.

The student will study how microbes shape the evolution of their metazoan hosts, working with turtles and amphibians and combining summer fieldwork in Panama (with the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute) and potentially the Ecuadorian Amazon (Tiputini Biodiversity Station) with shotgun and long-read metagenomics and computational analysis. Thesis questions are developed with the PI within the group's research program.
Funding: the selected student will be offered a graduate assistantship (about $11,000 per 9-month academic year, plus in-state tuition), with a summer stipend of up to $5,000 for each field season and support for field costs. The student will be the first graduate student in the group.
Requirements: B.S. in a biological field. Tropical field experience and working Spanish are preferred.
Full consideration for applications received by 2 November 2026. Full ad and how to apply: https://kvasir7.github.io/ENMU_MS_ad_2026.pdf
Questions: Joseph Madison at joseph.madison@enmu.edu (subject line: "ENMU MS Position")

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