Biology Opportunities

The application for the 2027 cohort of the CMU Rales Fellows Program is now open! You can find the application here: 2027 Rales Fellows Candidacy Application Over 100 graduate STEM programs at Carnegie Mellon University are eligible for this program, which supports both master’s and Ph.D. students. Fellows receive tuition and a stipend for up to two years of their admitted graduate program. In addition to the financial award, Fellows benefit from personalized career advising, mentorship, and leadership development. They will be offering CMU Rales Fellows Program Information Sessions throughout the fall, with our first session scheduled for September 23.

This two-year program has two areas of concentration: one concentration is focused on forensic toxicology/chemistry and the second on forensic/analytical genetics. Through the common core curriculum, students in both concentrations will have foundational information and skill set in advanced forensic science, writing, communication, professionalism, ethics, legal perspectives, and workplace-specific laboratory skills. Through a rigorous targeted finishing curriculum in either concentration, including internship experiences and cognate elective courses, the graduates will be competitive for workforce deployment in the areas of private industry drug testing, private DNA analysis, forensic governmental divisions, and hospital clinical labs.

The Department of Agronomy at Kansas State University is seeking a highly motivated doctoral student for a Ph.D. degree under the advisement of Dr. Brett Lane. The candidate will conduct research related to rhizosphere microbial ecology and functional soil-plant interactions, including the integration of plant genetics with soil microbial dynamics across environments, with applications in nutrient cycling and resilience in cropping systems. The research will involve the collection and processing of large-scale rhizosphere datasets, including multi-omics data; elucidating the ecology of rhizosphere-inhabiting microbes; and quantitative soil–plant–microbe interaction analyses to determine the mechanisms that link plant genotype with microbial composition and activity. Annual PhD stipend is $36,975. Graduate Research Assistants are considered Kansas residents for tuition purposes and are responsible for paying tuition and fees.

This fall term, the University of Minnesota Medical School will be hosting their annual Biomedical Sciences Graduate Programs Preview Weekend, a program designed to actively recruit prospective students into PhD programs in the biomedical sciences. The Medical School recognizes the importance of representation in the biomedical sciences and the benefits and successes that come from a diverse workforce. Transportation, meals, and lodging are fully covered.

Dates: October 7-10, 2026

• The program will start on Thursday, October 8, 2026 and run through Friday, October 9, 2026
• Participants to arrive on Wednesday, October 7, 2026 and return home on either the evening of October 9 or morning of October 10, 2026
• Application to participate will be open March 2, 2026 through July 27, 2026

Stowers’ fully funded Ph.D. program is designed to nurture the next generation of independent scientists by offering exceptional mentoring and hands-on research experience. Ph.D. students are essential members of the Institute’s vibrant scientific community, working in state-of-the-art facilities alongside scientists who are leaders in their fields.The program starts with foundational module courses that build expertise in core disciplines and introduce the Institute’s cutting-edge technologies. Following these courses, students engage in lab and project rotations, gaining diverse, high-quality research experiences that are essential for selecting a thesis lab. Research areas include Developmental and Cell Biology, Regeneration, Genetics and Genomics, Neuroscience, Systems Biology, Evolutionary Biology, Microbiology, and Plant Biology.

The Costello Lab at the University at Buffalo is recruiting PhD students for the upcoming 2026-2027 academic year! The lab conducts research to identify systemic barriers to student success in undergraduate biology courses and evaluate teaching strategies aimed at reducing those barriers. Current research projects center around evaluating course materials that represent scientists in biology courses, present results that do not align with hypotheses, and address how human biases shape scientific knowledge creation. For more information, check us out at www.costello-lab.com.

In light of funding cuts and uncertainty in US graduate programs (including in some cases rescinded offers), the University or British Columbia has reopened their graduate application portal to US citizens for this week only (April 14-18), for a select set of programs: https://www.grad.ubc.ca/us-applicant-week

This two-year program has two areas of concentration: one concentration is focused on forensic toxicology/chemistry and the second on forensic/analytical genetics. Through the common core curriculum, students in both concentrations will have foundational information and skill set in advanced forensic science, writing, communication, professionalism, ethics, legal perspectives, and workplace-specific laboratory skills. Through a rigorous targeted finishing curriculum in either concentration, including internship experiences and cognate elective courses, the graduates will be competitive for workforce deployment in the areas of private industry drug testing, private DNA analysis, forensic governmental divisions, and hospital clinical labs.