Author: Jonathan Eisen

Forwarding

Dear Colleagues,

We are actively recruiting strong undergraduates from the physical sciences, biological sciences, mathematics, engineering, and computing to join an interdisciplinary Ph.D. program in Quantitative Biosciences (QBioS) at Georgia Tech. Applications are welcome by December 2, 2016 for entrance in August 2017:

http://qbios.gatech.edu

The QBioS Ph.D. at Georgia Tech was established in 2015 and we welcomed our inaugural class of 9 Ph.D. students in August 2016:

http://bit.ly/qbios_phd2016

The QBioS program includes an interdisciplinary group of over 50 participating program faculty from six schools in the College of Sciences, including Biological Sciences, Chemistry and Biochemistry, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Mathematics, Physics and Psychology:

http://qbios.gatech.edu/people/faculty

The mission of QBioS at Georgia Tech is to enable the discovery of scientific principles underlying the dynamics, structure, and function of living systems – at scales spanning molecules to organisms to ecosystems. The Ph.D. training program is designed to prepare students from a diversity of backgrounds for fulfilling careers in academia, industry and government. The training program features:

* Foundational courses in Quantitative Biosciences
* Rotations in computational and/or experimental groups
* Selection of thesis advisor from all program faculty
* Rigorous and personalized quantitative training
* Five-year program of study from entrance to defense

Please forward this email and pdf flyer to undergraduate students at your institution. Interested students should apply via the links here:

http://qbios.gatech.edu/prospective-student/overview

Students are encouraged to email us at admissions for more information, as well as consult the FAQs for information on courses, research, and applications materials:

http://qbios.gatech.edu/prospective-student/faqs

Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,
Joshua Weitz
Professor of Biological Sciences
Director, Interdisciplinary Graduate Program in Quantitative Biosciences
Georgia Institute of Technology

on behalf of the QBioS graduate committee

Young-Hui Chang, Associate Professor of Biological Sciences
Jennifer Curtis, Associate Professor of Physics
James Gumbart, Assistant Professor of Physics
Christine Heitsch, Professor of Mathematics
Taka Ito, Associate Professor of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences
Patrick McGrath, Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences
Christine Payne, Associate Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry
Soojin Yi, Professor of Biological Sciences

qbios_gt_flyer_current.pdf

See https://www.lib.ucdavis.edu/ul/about/jobs/dsi-academic-coordinator.php

Academic Coordinator

Data Science Initiative
University of California, Davis

The University of California, Davis, Data Science Initiative (DSI) is looking for an innovative, enterprising individual with a passion for bringing data science to researchers and students and developing programs to build and support a vibrant, multidisciplinary data science community and culture on campus. The Academic Coordinator will work closely with the DSI Directors to further develop and realize the goals and plans for the initiative and also to coordinate the many varied activities of the initiative. The incumbent will engage with researchers from across campus, identify collaboration opportunities, develop and manage projects, and organize research. The Academic Coordinator will play a significant role in planning the long-term structure of data science services on campus. She/he will also develop working relationships with industry affiliates and other institutions, including national laboratories.

Salary: $64,920-$126,468 (Appointment rank and salary based on qualifications and experience).

For additional details and information on how to submit an online application, please visit
https://www.lib.ucdavis.edu/ul/about/jobs/dsi-academic-coordinator.php

Candidates applying by October 12, 2016, will receive first consideration. The position will remain open until filled.

UC Davis is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer.

UC Davis is a smoke- and tobacco free campus effective January 1, 2014.

Forwarded from Titus Brown
—-

Dr. Cameron Neylon will be giving a talk, “Excellence is Bullshit”, on Thursday, Sep 15th, 2016 at 3:30pm in the Data Science Initiative space (Shields Library, 3rd Floor, SE corner).

Dr. Neylon is a scholar of open access and open science, and the economics and governance of sustainable infrastructure. He contributes broadly to the global conversation on how to do science more openly, and how to support and maintain scholarly communities. He is currently a Professor of Research Communications at the Centre for Culture and Technology at Curtin University. He has previously worked for PLOS, the Open Access publisher and at the Science and Technology Facilities Council UK. His online home is at http://cameronneylon.net/.

His visit is hosted by C. Titus Brown (UC Davis SVM) and the Innovating Communication in Scholarship project. Dr. Neylon is available for meetings on Thursday; please contact Titus at ctbrown with your availability if you are interested in meeting with him.

Talk abstract:

Excellence is Bullshit:

“Bullshit” is a technical term, referring to a statement which is neither true nor false, in which the speaker’s goal “is to impress the listener and the reader with words that communicate an impression that something is being done or has been done, words that […] obscure the facts of the matter being discussed”. You might think that “excellence” (and its bedfellows “quality” and “impact”) are also technical terms, defined with a similar precision.

On occasion effort is made to define these words, but in use this precision fails. Their deployment in guidelines, assessment criteria, and mission statements usually functions as a way of avoiding difficult questions: questions of values and the political argument over whose values are more deserving of being supported and resourced. In this sense “excellence” in the way we use it in the academy is a textbook example of bullshit.

I will argue that the rhetorical and political power of excellence (and quality and impact) as concepts is a result, not of any imposition from the outside by administration or government, but of the stories we academics tell ourselves. That the negative effects of quantitative research assessment practice on diversity, creativity, and indeed the ability of the academy to achieve positive impacts in the wider world, is a consequence of our own rhetorics, and that it is up to us to change them.

https://www.npr.org/player/embed/492954687/493319143

Grad student & postdoc positions: Evolutionary ecology of plant-microbe symbiosis.

See https://labs.wsu.edu/stephanie-porter/research/

Post doc details below. Note – Dr. Porter was a PhD student at UC Davis and she is both brilliant and awesome.

“Postdoctoral Position: Plant-microbe symbiosis and biological invasions

A postdoctoral position in plant-microbe symbiosis and biological
invasions is available in the Porter lab
(https://labs.wsu.edu/stephanie-porter/) at Washington State
University, Vancouver. The postdoc will join an NSF-funded project to
examine the ecological and evolutionary forces reshaping plant-microbe
symbioses during biological invasions (DEB-1355216). This research
will leverage genomic tools in the model symbiosis between leguminous
plants and nitrogen-fixing symbiotic rhizobium bacteria to examine
ecological dynamics and the evolution of cooperation in natural and
experimentally evolved invasions.

Project opportunities: There will be intellectual freedom for the
postdoc to pursue novel projects as well as the opportunity to
collaborate on ongoing Porter lab research on the Medicago-Ensifer
model invasion biology system, including plant and bacterial
population genomics, quantitative genetic cross-inoculation
experiments in the greenhouse, and/or studies of ecological dynamics
in the field. Research will be conducted in close collaboration with
the Friesen lab at Michigan State University
(http://friesen.plantbiology.msu.edu/) and funding will be provided
for the postdoc to visit scientists at MSU on a regular basis, if
desired. The postdoctoral researcher will be expected to lead-author
peer-reviewed scientific articles and funding will be provided to give
national conference presentations.

Location: Washington State University, Vancouver is a vibrant, rapidly
growing institution
(http://cas.vancouver.wsu.edu/science-graduate-programs/faculty-research)
located in the greater Portland/Vancouver metropolitan area, near the
Columbia River, Cascade Mountains and coastal ocean, and as such
offers an exceptional quality of life.

Qualifications:

PhD in evolutionary ecology, genomics, microbial biology, and/or plant biology
Demonstrated written and oral English communication skills & publication record

Appointment is for one year at full time plus benefits starting at
$45K annually, with NIH-level salary increases for years of
postdoctoral experience; expectation of renewal for up to three years
pending quality performance. The start date is flexible.

Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis until the position is
filled. To apply, please send a single pdf email attachment with
“Microbial Symbiosis Postdoc” in the email subject line. Include a
1-page statement of research interests and experience, a curriculum
vitae, copies of relevant publications, and contact information for 3
references, to stephanie.porter@wsu.edu
.

PorterEtal_Ni adaptation ms_ismej201688a.pdf

Got this via the Intertubes:

From: Nicholas Kaplinsky
Subject: Tenure track Systems Biology position at Swarthmore College – please post and distribute

Dear friends,

The Department of Biology at Swarthmore is hiring a Systems Biologist. I would appreciate it if you would pass the attached announcement on to talented postdocs whok might be interested in the position and post it in your department.

Thank you,

Nick Kaplinsky

SYSTEMSBIOLOGY_Swarthmore_final.pdf

Just got this by email:

The Simons Foundation is now accepting applications for its Simons Early Career Investigator in Marine Microbial Ecology and Evolution Awards. The deadline for receipt of letters of intent (LOI) is November 7, 2016, 5:00 PM Eastern Time.

The purpose of these awards is to help launch the careers of outstanding investigators who use quantitative approaches to advance our understanding of marine microbial ecology and evolution. Investigators with backgrounds in different fields or with an interest in modeling or theory are encouraged to apply.

Among other eligibility requirements, applicants must have held a tenure-track or tenured position (or equivalent) in a U.S. or Canadian institution for at least one year and no more than eight years.

•••

The Simons Foundation’s mission is to advance the frontiers of research in mathematics and the basic sciences.

Plant Biology Postdoc Seminar Series

Kaisa Kajala

Brady Lab, Plant Biology and Genome Center

Expression atlas of tomato roots – cell types, drought and submergence

1022 Life Sciences Addition

12:10 pm on Tuesday, September 6th 2016

Moritz Buck, PhD
Post-Doctoral Researcher and Metagenomic Bioinformatics Expert at Bioinformatics Infrastructure for Life Sciences (BILS)
Department of Limnology and Department Ecology and Genetics
Uppsala University, Sweden

1pm , Tuesday, Sep 6th
GBSF Auditorium (Room# 1005)

"Metagenomics and model communities: looking for simple interactions in a complex world”

Guest Seminar.pdf