Welcome!
Students are the heart and soul of the AGL, and we love to welcome new faces! However, our ability to bring in new students is usually dependent upon the availability of grant funding. If you're interested in becoming involved in our lab, please read the appropriate section below.
Undergraduate Students
The AGL welcomes inquiries from current ISU students interested in gaining research experience, and we are often able to support 3-5 undergraduate researchers at a time. We are particularly interested in students who can work through the summer field season. AGL pay rates for undergraduate workers are competitive with similar labs around campus.
Most undergrads begin as research assistants, working with current AGL graduate students, directly with Pete, or as an AGL representative helping research teams from collaborating labs. In many cases, student work involves a combination of fieldwork, lab work, and computer work. Highly-motivated undergrads can also pursue independent research with the AGL in some cases, and we welcome inquiries from students in the ISU Honors program. In some instances, we also involve students from outside of ISU pursuing undergraduate thesis projects. If you're interested in any of these opportunities, please reach out to Pete with an email, explain your interests and goals, and attach a current resume or CV.
Prospective Graduate Students & Postdocs
AGL-led research projects often require significant background in the geosciences, but students with forestry, ecology, or engineering degrees may also be considered for some projects. When new grant funding is available, we will often post specific graduate opportunities in appropriate listservs such as GEOMORPHLIST and GilbertClub. We will sometimes consider unsolicited expressions of interest from motivated students. If you are interested in graduate work in the AGL, please send an e-mail to Pete with each of the following:
- A cover letter explaining your background and reason for interest in the AGL. Please specifically identify one or more of our current research themes that you are most interested in.
- A current CV, listing your degrees, relevant coursework, additional work experience, and any publications or abstracts you have published.
- An example of your academic or technical writing. If you've published in a peer-reviewed journal, please include a reprint of a paper that is representative of your work. If you haven't published yet, a short term paper written for a course is fine.
We do our best to reply to most serious inquiries, but since we receive many messages about graduate work in the AGL we cannot guarantee a reply to inquiries that do not include these items.
Prospective postdocs should contact Pete directly. Postdoc positions in the AGL are rare, but when available will be linked with particular external grants. These opportunities will usually be advertised through GEOMORPHLIST and GilbertClub.