Advice to Prospective Students

Hello, welcome to the Post Lab web page. We - well, actually, it is just me at this time - are a new lab in E&EB at Yale. We are located on the first floor of the Environmental Science Center, at the base of Science Hill and next to the Peabody Museum. I am now looking for enthusiastic undergraduate and graduate students (and postdocs) to join my lab.

My research applies empirical and theoretical methods, often within a food-web framework, to answer questions at the interface of population, community, and ecosystem ecology. I primarily work in aquatic ecosystems, but I also study interactions and processes that link aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. For a more thorough description of my research, please take a look at the Post Lab research page, or my personal web page.

I am looking for inquisitive, creative, collaborative, and hardworking students. I strongly believe in a stepwise approach to student training. Upon entering the Post Lab, I will work with you to develop a research experience and program that matches your experience, expectations, and goals. I strongly encourage students new to research (at any level of education) to work with me on my projects in order to gain experience in and develop intuition for different ecological systems (extremely valuable even if you never work in that system again). As you gain experience, I will help you and expect you to branch out and become more independent.

As an advisor, I endeavor to provide my students with the tools, resources, advice, and intellectual flexibility needed to develop into independent scientists. I expect students in my lab to be full and active participants in the intellectual environment of the Post Lab, the Department of E&EB, and Yale University, and to be conscientious and professional members of the scientific community as a whole.

So, if you are interested in joining the Post Lab at Yale University, send me an email: david.post@yale.edu or stop by my office for a chat (room 164, Environmental Science Center). I would be happy to talk with you about your interests. Also, please visit the E&EB departmental web page for information about the graduate program and admissions

As a prospective graduate student you have a lot to consider when choosing an advisor, a lab, and a university. Here is a web page containing a list of essays and advice I found useful when I was making choices about my graduate career.

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