Join the lab
Please reach out to me via email if you have any questions about our work! See below for info on open positions and how to join the lab!
Diversity in all forms is celebrated in this lab. This can be reflected by many aspects of one’s identity including ethnicity, socioeconomic status, age, race, gender identity, religious affiliation, citizenship status, neurodiversity, disability status, sexual orientation, and diversity of thought. We are all shaped by our life experiences and science is better when it is built on contributions and pushback from a variety of perspectives.
A note to hobbyists: if you are a hobby microscopist or naturalist of any kind and you find something cool and/or novel and want your discovery to be more than an observation, I am happy to talk with you about avenues for growing that work and about potentially incorporating your finding into an ongoing or standalone research project with as much or as little involvement on your part as you are comfortable with (and of course you will get credit either way)! Please don’t hesitate to reach out, even if just for an exploratory conversation. Also, see the Paulinella Consortium if you have found or are interested in looking for Paulinella populations.
Open positions:
PhD student (specific) - I would like to find a PhD student to work specifically on the Paulinella project. This would entail fieldwork to collect new populations, lab work to isolate cells and establish long-term cultures, and computational work in the form of downstream multi-omic analysis of single-cell isolates and cultured organisms. This project will require a lot of time at the microscope doing single cell isolations, advanced imaging, and culturing. There also will be plenty of room to design an exciting project and develop your own research questions about the ecology and evolution of this important lineage, investigate the origin and mechanisms of primary endosymbiosis, and gain skills in comparative genomics, phylogenetics, and other types of bioinformatic analyses. I am looking for someone who either has experience isolating small cells (<20um), or wants to put in the time to learn, get really good at it, and train others. There will be opportunities to contribute to other computational projects in the lab as well, but the focus of this PhD position will be on Paulinella. There will also be outreach opportunities inherent in this project (see Paulinella Consortium), so if you are interested in science communication and public engagement, this may be a good fit!
PhD student (general) - focus area TBD
Let’s work together to come up with a project idea within one or more of the lab’s research areas that will result in an exciting and productive PhD! Generally, you will be expected to do both wet lab and computational work, with fieldwork opportunities if you are interested.
At UMD, you will be applying to the Biological Science graduate program (BISI) which has three concentrations that I am affiliated with: (1) Behavior, Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics (BEES), (2) Computational Biology, Bioinformatics, and Genomics (CBBG), and (3) Molecular and Cellular Biology (MOCB). Some of these programs have rotations and some are direct admit. I am happy to discuss what would be best for you if you are interested in applying.
Postdoctoral research associate - for now, I am happy to help with postdoc fellowship applications (see below) but don’t plan to fund a postdoc position outright.
To apply for any position in this lab, please send a CV, writing sample (for postdocs), and a brief description (<1 page) of YOUR research interests and goals with the subject line: “VE lab inquiry” to juliave -at- umd -dot- edu.
If your email was written by an LLM, I will not respond.
The positions advertised above are theoretically funded but it is important to also apply for fellowships and/or grants together for these positions; some options are below (let me know if you hear of others):
For PhD students:
Simons Graduate Fellowships in Ecology and Evolution - LOI due July (full app due following May), can have Master’s and apply!
NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) - typically due in late Fall
NASA Future Investigators in NASA Earth and Space Science and Technology (FINESST) - typically due in Winter
HHMI Gilliam Fellows program - not sure of 2026 due date yet; for students and faculty mentors committed to advancing inclusion
For postdocs:
NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology (PRFB) - typically due September
NSF Ocean Sciences Postdoctoral Research Fellowship (OCE-PRF) - typically due in Fall; CANCELED
Simons Postdoctoral Fellowship in Marine Microbial Biology - not sure when due (they might have canceled this)
Simons Postdoctoral Fellowship in Plant Science - likely due in late Winter (would love to try for one of these!)
EMBO Postdoctoral Fellowships - rolling due date with July end; must move countries (for EU applicants only)
Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellowships- due early September; must move countries (for EU applicants only)
The Branco Weiss Fellowship (Society in Science) - due in October; for big ideas that are not considered “mainstream”
HHMI Hannah H. Gray Fellows Program - not sure of 2026 due date yet; they changed this program recently…
Human Frontier Science Program Postdoctoral Fellowship - process begins May and due September; must move countries
Life Sciences Research Foundation Award - not sure of 2026 due date yet
NASA Postdoctoral Program (NPP) - we aren’t eligible to take NPP postdocs yet but this is a great program and I’m applying for NASA grants right now which may open us up to this in the future.