Call for Undergraduate Researchers in Soil Microbial Ecology

The Strickland Lab is looking for Undergraduate Research Assistants. Assistants will help graduate students and staff in various research projects relating to soil microbial ecology.

Duties will include preparing and processing samples, conducting lab analyses, preparing substrates, conducting DNA extractions and qPCR, assisting with field work, and laboratory upkeep. There may be an opportunity to conduct an independent research project.

We have opportunities for credit and/or for pay through the Federal work-study program. See below for a brief overview of the lab and the current research projects.

If interested and/or for more information, please contact Dr. Strickland.

Overview of the Lab:

In this lab, they examine how changes within the microbial community affect and are in turn influenced by ecosystem processes focusing on soil carbon cycling (i.e. carbon sequestration, litter decomposition). They use a broad range of assays from molecular and enzymatic (i.e. DNA extraction, qPCR, extracellular enzymes) to functional and analytical (i.e. microbial respiration, microbial biomass, particulate organic matter).

You will have the opportunity to do general lab work on various experiments, or to focus your work to learn specific techniques or on one experiment, and/or you can assist a PhD student with their experiment(s).

A number of studies are being conducted in the lab including:

• Quantifying soil health: Impacts of tillage and cover crops on microbial abundance and function

• Grasshopper micronutrient

• Grasshopper diversity

• Microbial community structure and function in litter decomposition

• Antibiotic Resistance and its Effect on Soil Microbial Communities and Functioning