Janis Dickinson's Lab

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Prospective Graduate Students

My lab is full, however, Walt Koenig recently moved to Cornell from UC Berkeley, and is considering applicants to graduate school in the Field of Neurobiology and Behavior; I will be happy to co-sponsor students interested in working with him. I will not be taking additional students in Natural Resources until 2012.

My Philosophy

I accept graduate students in two graduate fields: Neurobiology & Behavior and Natural Resources. My goals in graduate teaching are to provide opportunities for students to understand current theoretical issues in behavioral ecology and, in the case of Natural Resources students, integrate behavioral ecology studies with key conservation issues.  I encourage immersion in intensive field research, because I believe that significant understanding of a single study system helps students grasp the complexity of biological systems and integrate new and existing ideas in original ways. I expect my students to work towards developing and testing major concepts in the field of behavioral or population ecology. If they enter the graduate field of Natural Resources, they will also be expected to work at the interface of conservation biology towards developing creative research, management, or citizen science engagement strategies.  The cross-disciplinary scholarship and synthetic abilities required to achieve these goals usually do not develop before graduate school and these skills will be emphasized in my mentoring and in the seminars I teach. 

Field of Natural Resources Applicants

I believe that the current generation of graduate students faces unprecedented conservation challenges. MS/Ph.D. students entering in the Field of Natural Resources are expected to possess a sense of mission that is attuned to the strategic plan of the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and its vision to improve environmental stewardship.  Toward this end I will encourage my DNR students to include in their thesis a section involving 1) Citizen science participation, 2) Citizen science evaluation, 3) research-based management recommendations, or 4) analysis of the potential for grass roots sustainability efforts.  Citizen science is a powerful tool for understanding complex environmental problems and I encourage students to tap intellectual resources in the Department of Natural Resources and Cornell Lab of Ornithology to find the right blend of social science and natural science approaches to their research questions.  Contemporary conservation science requires collaboration across disciplines and this new generation of graduate students must of necessity be collaborative to be competitive for funding from cross-cutting programs that are now emphasized by federal funding agencies.  Citizen science, with its capacity to integrate the human dimensions, is an excellent model for facilitating bottom-up adaptive management, particularly in human-dominated and agricultural landscapes where regulations are typically not going to produce conservation-based management solutions in a timely and significant way.  The program I direct and the research plans that we are implementing follow this model.

Neurobiology & Behavior Applicants

Ph.D. students entering into the graduate field of Neurobiology and Behavior (NB&B) will train in current theoretical issues in the field of behavioral ecology and choose projects that span the range from basic theoretically-driven research to research at the interface of conservation biology.  My background in this area is quite broad and because students coming into NB&B are cosponsored, incoming students will have the opportunity to add mechanistic animal behavior and theoretical modeling dimensions to their program

Research Possibilities

My philosophy in advising graduate students is to emphasize question-driven research and strong scholarship.  I offer two possibilities: 1) Collaborative research with me, which increases the possibility of grant-funded stipends as a form of support and offers frequent one-on-one communication during project development, but offers less experience in project development and grant-writing than a more independent approach. Within the framework of a collaborative project, I ask students to take the lead in developing the piece of research that becomes their thesis, so that they have a chance to gain inquiry skills and demonstrate independent research capacity, creativity, and research design capability within the collaboration. In such cases, students are first author of their thesis papers, but also have opportunities to co-author additional papers produced by the group. This model is the one I use for students working on western bluebirds and for students who require substantial help in developing a project. The collaborative approach is the required option for Masters students, but is also available to Ph.D. students who wish to pursue this option.   2) The second model I offer is a guided experience in which the student chooses his or her own questions and system, secures funding through small (e.g. Sigma Xi; Chapman Fund) and larger (NSF DDIG) research grants (also available through the collaborative option), carrying out a project on his or her own system. This model is the one I trained under and is restricted to Ph.D. students. I believe that both models have advantages and that a student’s choice of dissertation style is largely a matter of taste. I currently have four graduate students, three in the field of Natural Resources and one in Neurobiology and Behavior. 
                                   
John Thompson’s advice for graduate students (pdf)
John Thompson (UCSC) has kindly given me permission to use his Advice for Graduate students document.  It is very helpful – incoming and current graduate students are advised to read it.

Applying to grad school? Check out Eileen Lacey's advice page!

Applying to Cornell? Check out the graduate school!