Please contact Ryan to discuss potential research ideas. Unless you are responding to a specific job advertisement, you should be prepared to apply for external fellowships (e.g., NSF Postdoctoral Fellowships) or other funding to support yourself.

Ryan mentors PhD students through two programs at Duke: Environment and the University Program in Ecology. Both programs are highly competitive due to the large pool of applicants and the small number of available positions. If you are interested in working with Ryan through one of these two programs, please contact him 4-5 months before the Duke Graduate School deadline with the following information:

- a detailed statement that explains why his group seems to be the right fit for you;

- how your prior research fits into one or more of his group’s research foci; and

- names and institutions of people who will provide your letters of recommendation to Duke.

Ryan works with professional master’s students who are enrolled in Duke’s Master of Environmental Management (MEM) program. MEM students apply and enter the program as a cohort; they do not apply to specific professor’s research groups. MEM students do have opportunities to work with specific groups during their studies, and applicants or admitted students should contact Ryan to learn about specific opportunities, including work studies, assistantships, and temporary positions.

Duke undergraduate students should contact Ryan about specific opportunities to work with his group, including through work study or temporary positions.

Undergraduate students from other universities should look for advertisements in January or February about about NSF Research Experience for Undergraduate opportunities with Ryan’s group (typically 8-10 weeks during the summer).