We invite inquiries from qualified post-docs, graduate, and undergraduate students who are interested in studying bees or wasps.
Positions at Danforth Lab
Graduate Students
Interested graduate students can find information on the graduate program from the Cornell Entomology web site. You can also find more information on the Graduate School at Cornell here. Please note that I am in two graduate “Fields”: Entomology and Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. Graduate applications are normally due December 1. We review the applications shortly thereafter.
We are currently searching for a graduate student to work on an NSF-funded project on bee-microbe interactions:
Position description:
We seek a PhD student interested in bee-microbe interactions to work on a collaborative project on the “brood cell microbiome” of solitary bees. The “brood cell microbiome” forms an important component of bee larval nutrition and recent studies indicate that disruptions to the brood cell microbiome can have significant negative impacts on larval growth and development. Our project focuses on documenting the taxonomic and functional diversity of microbes associated with 16 focal bee species spanning six of the seven families and diverse life histories. We will use amplicon sequencing, metabarcoding and culture-based methods to characterize microbial communities in bee pollen provisions to determine what biotic and abiotic factors drive bee-flower-microbe associations. We seek a candidate with an interest in bee diversity and evolution, bee-microbe interactions, and some prior experience in molecular characterization of microbial communities. The project involves substantial fieldwork on bee nesting biology and ecology.
The successful candidate will join an interactive group that includes collaborators from the University of Wisconsin, Madison (Shawn Steffan), the University of California, Davis (Rachel Vannette), and the University of California, Riverside (Quinn McFrederick).
Post Docs
I am interested in supporting post-docs to work on projects of their own design or on ongoing projects in the lab. My own interests center on bee phylogeny, bee biodiversity, native bee pollination ecology, and bee-microbe interactions. I would like to develop projects in the area of bioinformatics and bee genomics. I am very interested in working with prospective post-docs to obtain grant funding to support their respective projects. We are currently searching for a post-doc to work on a USDA-funded project on bee-microbe interactions:
Position description:
We seek a candidate to work on the characterization of bacterial and fungal communities in the pollen provisions of solitary bees. The “brood cell microbiome” forms an important component of bee larval nutrition and recent studies have indicated that disruptions to the brood cell microbiome can have significant negative impacts on larval growth and development. We seek a candidate with a strong background in molecular characterization of microbial communities who can apply a variety of methods, including amplicon sequencing, shotgun metagenomics, and culture-based techniques to explore the native microbial communities of ground and stem-nesting bees and how perturbations to these microbial communities impact bee health. We are working largely with mason bees (Osmia cornifrons). Expertise in wet-lab techniques of DNA and RNA extraction, Next-gen library development, and downstream bioinformatics analyses is essential. The successful candidate should have excellent oral and written communication skills, should be capable of independently writing research articles arising from the research, and should be comfortable communicating with collaborators at other institutions. The successful candidate will be expected to contribute to lab management and supervision of graduate and undergraduate students in the lab.
Undergrads
Working in a research lab is excellent experience for students intending to enroll into graduate school or take up a career in research. We regularly have opportunities for students interested in field as well as laboratory studies of bees. We are particularly interested in students with backgrounds in entomology, insect diversity, molecular systematics and molecular biology, bioinformatics, or evolutionary biology.
Contact Us
If you are interested in joining the lab, please send me an email at the address listed below.
Bryan N. Danforth, Professor and Chair
Department of Entomology
3124 Comstock Hall
Cornell University
Ithaca, NY 14853-2601
phone: 607-255-3563
FAX: 607-255-0939
email: bnd1@cornell.edu
Research Areas
Our lab takes a multifaceted approach to understanding the evolutionary history of bees and how they interact with the plants and microbes around them.
Lab Members
We are an interactive group with graduate and undergraduate students, post-docs and researchers exploring bee evolution and ecological interactions.
Contact Us
If you are interested in joining the lab, please send me an email.