Interested in joining the Sanford Lab?

I am looking for bright and enthusiastic students who are fascinated by the ecology and evolution of marine organisms. The Sanford Lab offers opportunities for students at all levels.

Undergraduate Students:

There are often research opportunities available for motivated UC Davis undergraduates interested in working in the Sanford Lab. The students who pursue these opportunities often do so after having taken one or more of my courses. If you have a solid academic record, enjoy working hard, and think you might like to get involved, feel free to contact me.

Graduate Students*

*Note: Sorry, I am not considering new graduate students for Fall 2023. Thanks!

I welcome inquiries from prospective graduate students. The Sanford Lab is based full-time at Bodega Marine Laboratory (BML) and accepts students through either the Graduate Group in Ecology or the Population Biology Graduate Group. Entering students spend their first year on campus completing coursework and then generally move to the coast to become full-time residents at BML.

I enjoy working with students who share interests with me, but I am also committed to training students who are independent thinkers and creative scientists. Thus, I expect my students to develop and pursue an exciting thesis of their own design (with my input and encouragement, of course!).

Experimental field studies are the backbone of my research and I urge students to test hypotheses in the field whenever possible. This is easily done given our location within the Bodega Marine Reserve and our proximity to many other superb field sites along the California coast. I am also convinced of the power of complementary lab studies, and the outstanding seawater facilities at BML create opportunities for a variety of larval rearing and mesocosm experiments. I encourage students to take an integrative approach to their research and to seek training in other disciplines where appropriate. For example, I am very interested in how physiology, genomics, and population genetics can inform ecological and evolutionary questions and I welcome students with interests in developing skills in these areas.