There are many opportunities for joining our lab or working with us, listed below. If you are thinking about joining our group, please read our mission and values, read my mentoring philosophy below, and get to know a few of our publications. To work in our lab, a strong passion for conservation science and practice, and scientific curiosity, is important. Our team is welcoming, friendly, and supportive. I enjoy helping lab members develop skills in interdisciplinary science, data management, computer coding, applied conservation, open science, communication, and networking. We help team members go on to fulfilling careers (see lab alumni on our Meet Us page).
Why here?
At The Morton Arboretum we have a modern molecular laboratory, laboratories in other areas such as soil science and pathology, greenhouses, space for experimental plantings, abundant field sites in a diversity of microhabitats on 1700 acres, thousands of species from around the world, enthusiastic volunteers and citizen scientists, and an audience of more than a million public visitors per year. The Morton has strong values and is driven by a mission to understand and conserve plants, educate and inspire, and make the world a better, greener place.
Mentoring and Lab Leadership Philosophy
I aim for our lab to be a collaborative, supportive, place of learning and discovery. I strive to provide lab members with the autonomy that they need but also with frequent support and guidance. I tailor my mentoring to each person, but as a general rule I interact with new members extensively at the beginning, with increasing independence as time goes on. Most team members are at least fairly independent- can explore, try new techniques, research the literature (with guidance), and bring questions to our scheduled meetings. Our lab members often work together and support each other, contributing their unique skills and perspectives. We also hold each other to high standards of ethics, responsibility, and service to the community (e.g. via open data and code, reviewing papers, helping others in the department, etc). I work hard to provide constructive and positive feedback, yearly professional development, team spirit, and projects or tasks that suit the team members abilities and interests. Specifically regarding graduate students, I work together with students to design projects around their interests, usually building on the students original ideas with my feedback and suggestions on study design, feasibility, etc.
I am highly responsive to emails and drop-ins- my door is usually open. However, at some times of the year such as grant writing I can get quite busy, and so I clearly inform about my availability. I work to provide structure/ milestones for projects, let team members know when milestones are reached and what the long picture is for a project. I also check in with lab members frequently to see if our level of interaction is sufficient and helpful, and we have formal goal setting and appraisal twice a year to talk through the mentoring experience.
I am highly responsive to emails and drop-ins- my door is usually open. However, at some times of the year such as grant writing I can get quite busy, and so I clearly inform about my availability. I work to provide structure/ milestones for projects, let team members know when milestones are reached and what the long picture is for a project. I also check in with lab members frequently to see if our level of interaction is sufficient and helpful, and we have formal goal setting and appraisal twice a year to talk through the mentoring experience.
Students
Undergraduate Students
We truly enjoy mentoring undergraduate students. There are opportunities year-round. All backgrounds and majors may find a home in our lab, but especially ecology, genetics, geography, policy, data science, and computer science. We provide a good salary, though some students choose to work for academic credit or an honor’s thesis instead. If you would like to join our team, email shoban@mortonarb.org with a description of your interests, your major, your career goals, and your time availability.
- NSF Research Experience for Undergraduate (REU) provide 10 weeks of summer full time funding to work on a semi-independent project, designed in collaboration with a mentor, plus participation in activities for mentoring and skill development, with a cohort of 5 to 10 other students. The summer finishes with a research symposium and a research paper.
- Research Technician Fellows, a flexible program providing 8 to 12 weeks of part or full time funding at any time of the year. These are for students who have not participated in extended independent research (first year students, smaller colleges, etc.). These provide skill development, mentorship for an ongoing scientific project, career advising and experiencing all parts of the science process.
- Students who enjoyed an REU or RTF may receive additional funding for a Research Experience Extension Fellowship (REEF) which provides additional funding and a deeper mentorship experience, often leading to publications and/ or attendance at scientific conferences.
Graduate Students
- Graduate Students: I value working with graduate students at the PhD and Master’s level. For students applying to graduate school, between June and September of the year you are applying, email shoban@mortonarb.org your CV and a few paragraphs about your interests and experience, how they match to our lab, your career goals, and why you feel our lab is a good match.
- Graduate Students via University of Chicago: I am able to advise PhD students via the University of Chicago Committee on Evolutionary Biology, a unique cross-department and cross-institution program to provide holistic training in evolutionary biology. This program emphasizes a cross-scalar (time and space and taxonomy) perspective on evolution, inquiry driven research, self-motivation, discovery, and often at least some field components. Five to nine students are accepted each year. This program provides a competitive stipend, full support for 5+ years, internal research funding, and a highly supportive and fun, but also challenging, experience.
- Graduate Students via other means: I also advise students by serving on PhD or Masters committees, including recently Purdue and University of Montana. I have also interacted with students by supporting them on projects, chapters or papers while not actually serving on the committee. As the University of Chicago program is highly competitive, I suggest that students interested to work with me also apply to other programs. Strong programs in ecology and evolution include UC Davis, Duke, Michigan State, U of Michigan, Colorado State, U of Colorado, and U of Tennessee. Some botanic gardens have Masters or PhD programs including The Arnold Arboretum, Holden Arboretum, Chicago Botanical Garden, Denver Botanical Garden, and Missouri Botanical Garden. There are many other good programs and I welcome emails asking for advice.
- Graduate student interns: The National Science Foundation has a program (called ‘Intern’) to support graduate students who want experience in industry, museums or NGOs during their PhD, for one to two semesters. This program provides salary and other support. I have not yet supported a student this way but encourage it- it is very valuable to experience the world outside academia.
Research Assistants
We usually have 1 or 2 research assistants working in the lab full time. Research assistants usually have a Masters degree or an undergraduate degree plus one or more years of experience in conservation science. Research assistant openings are announced on the Morton job page, but feel free to email me with inquiries about upcoming openings.
Post Docs
I occasionally have funding for postdocs- these will be announced on the Morton Website and widely advertised. I have also worked with PhD students and postdocs to write postdoctoral fellowship applications such as Society for Conservation Biology Smith Fellowship and USDA Fellowships. If your interests match our lab, or build on our lab's work, or you just have a strong passion for conservation, email me (shoban@mortonarb.org) and I will help you identify opportunities. Others include Liber Ero Fellows, NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowships in Biology, NSERC Postdoctoral Fellowship (Canadians), American Association of University Women Postdoctoral Research Leave Fellowship (women), and Ford Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship.
Volunteers
We have had several fantastic volunteers in our lab who do everything from data checking and manuscript preparation, to a diversity of helpful lab tasks like organizing samples, preparing extraction tubes, and labeling.
Collaborators and Visitors
Colleagues of all career stages are welcome to reach out with ideas for collaboration. Much of my lab's work has grown out of conversations at meetings, collaborative proposals, synthesis center workshops, and similar events. I have successfully worked with many collaborators remotely. I welcome short to long term (weeks to months) visits with potential collaborators at all levels from undergraduate to senior scientist, for discussing project or proposal ideas, getting to know our lab better, or initiating projects. We may be able to partially support visitors (e.g. travel funds). If you have an idea for collaboration that would entail an in person visit, please contact me (shoban@mortonarb.org).