Join the Lab

We are happy to discuss opportunities with people motivated to understand how bacteria interact with their plant hosts. Expectations for members of the lab are described in the Lowe-Power lab handbook. The lab’s onboarding info might also be of interest.

Please, please do not send a generic email that only describes yourself. I receive dozens to hundreds of cold emails from prospective scientists each year, and the emails only stand out when the applicant makes a specific case about why our lab and the applicant are a good mutual fit.

Undergraduate Researchers

The Lowe-Power lab tends to recruit students in cohort-teams. If you are an undergraduate student interested in our research and would like to contribute to our group’s research mission through course-credit (GDB 189, PLP 199) or work-study, please read this advice on writing professional emails and contact Dr. Lowe-Power.

Although positions for undergraduate research are limited, Dr. Lowe-Power is interested in mentoring Global Disease Biology students on a systematic meta-analysis on global distribution and diversity of Ralstonia wilt pathogens. read more details here. I tend to initiate a cohort of students on this project in Fall Quarters.

In Winter quarters, I run the Ralstonia genomics CURE. Around October, I recruit students via a Google Form application that is disseminated by the GDB advisors and Lolita Atkins at the Undergrad Research Center.

Current and prospective students are encouraged to apply for stipend funding through UC Davis Undergraduate Research Programs. The “Provost’s Undergraduate Fellowship” (PUF) is usually due mid-Fall and mid-Spring Quarters. I strongly recommend that current undergrads apply. I can provide example proposals.

Advice:

• Ten simple rules to make the most out of your undergraduate research career

Graduate Students

• Ten Simple Rules for Graduate Students. In my opinion, their “Rule 1” is valuable advice, but I think they stated it too strongly. You need to be willing to put in major intellectual and physical effort for your graduate research, but you do not necessarily need this to be driven by “Passion”. The rest of this advice is good.

We accept graduate students though several graduate groups, including Plant Pathology, Microbiology, Plant Biology, and Integrative Genetics and Genomics. Application deadlines range from Dec 1 to early January.

If you are a current Davis graduate student interested in rotating, send me an email with your CV and a statement describing your interest in our lab.

Postdocs

• Ten Simple Rules for Selecting a Postdoctoral Position
• Ten Simple Rules for Writing a (Postdoctoral) Fellowship.

If you are a senior PhD student or current postdoc who is interested in a 2+ year postdoc in the Lowe-Power lab, send an email describing your research interests, career goals, what you hope to get out of the Lowe-Power lab, what you hope to bring to the Lowe-Power lab, and your CV.

I am particularly interested in prospective postdocs who are interested in applying for fellowships such as NSF, USDA, LSRF, UC PPFP, or other fellowships.

Onboarding

New hires should follow the lab onboarding SOP, which is a work-in-progress living document.