The Biology Education Research Group at the University of New Hampshire, led by Dr. Melissa Aikens and Dr. Carrie Hall, is seeking a PhD student to begin an NSF-funded project to study the efficacy and psychosocial effects of learning communities, mentorship, and study abroad experiences for Community College transfer students, and how these experiences inform career choice decisions. Broadly, our labs investigate how self-beliefs and values relate to achievement and persistence in undergraduate biology students, and how validated pedagogical innovations increase student performance in biology classes.

The graduate student will be housed in the Integrative and Organismal Biology (IOB) program within the Department of Biological Sciences. Graduate students are expected to take both biology and education-related courses while conducting their dissertation research in biology education. The student will be funded on a teaching assistantship during the academic year and a research assistantship during the summer months. The student will have the opportunity to interact with a vibrant community of discipline-based education researchers across the STEM disciplines as well as participate in the Cognate for College Teaching program offered through the Center for Excellence and Innovation in Teaching & Learning.

Applicants should contact Dr. Melissa Aikens (melissa.aikens@unh.edu) or Dr. Carrie Hall (carrie.hall@unh.edu) for more information. Preferred applicants should have completed a Master’s degree in biology or a related field before matriculating to UNH. Applications are due to the UNH Graduate School by January 15, 2020. More information about graduate studies in the Department of Biological Sciences can be found at https://colsa.unh.edu/biological-sciences/program/phd/biological-sciences-integrative-and-organismal-biology