{"id":499,"date":"2020-01-23T16:19:20","date_gmt":"2020-01-23T21:19:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/biology\/debekkerlab\/?page_id=499"},"modified":"2020-07-11T17:43:06","modified_gmt":"2020-07-11T21:43:06","slug":"graduate-positions","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/biology\/debekkerlab\/graduate-positions\/","title":{"rendered":"Graduate Positions"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Parasitic Behavioral Manipulation Lab at the University of Central Florida supports postdoctoral, doctoral and undergraduate research. The integrative nature of our research makes for a vibrant lab with researchers from various backgrounds and with a variety of research interests. Our lab is an inclusive workplace where everyone can feel comfortable being their authentic selves. We value our differences and believe that learning and sharing ideas across race, gender, age, religion, identity, nationality, and experiences makes us all better scientists and human beings. If you are interested in becoming part of our research team, please, carefully read the information below.<\/p>\n

Background Information<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Infected animals often behave differently from healthy animals. These changes can involve precise manipulations caused by parasites to increase that parasite\u2019s chances to spread. How exactly manipulative parasites can alter host behavior is largely unknown. The behaviorally tractable \u201czombie ant system\u201d has the potential to expose the mechanisms underlying parasitic behavioral manipulation and fundamentally transform perceptions of parasite-host interactions and their behavioral ecology effects. Our lab uses these fungus-infected \u201czombie ants\u201d as a model to study disease progression, related behavioral phenotypes, and the mechanisms underlying those phenotypes. We love to push the boundaries when it comes to available techniques for this novel model system so we often find ourselves adopting and creating new tools to answer our research questions. Does that sound like an exciting way to do science to you? Then, keep on reading!<\/p>\n

Prospective Graduate Researchers<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Prospective students who fit well within our lab are passionate about science, creative, motivated to participate in scientific outreach, and work well within a team as well as independently. It also works in your favor if you have already developed good working knowledge in experimental design and statistics, and have great oral and written communication skills.<\/p>\n

To be considered for a graduate position, you should have a strong interest in at least some of the following:<\/p>\n