I have substantial professional training and experience in the area of mentorship, including a year serving in a 20 hour/week position as the STEM coordinator of a university-wide mentorship program for new graduate students at UC Riverside, as well as several years mentoring graduate and undergraduate students in research labs and through various programs. Check out my CV (on the “Team” page) for more details.
If you are interested in joining the lab as a PhD student or postdoctoral researcher, and you have already read about our research to check that your interests are complementary, please read the relevant section below and get in touch (jessica_tingle@brown.edu).
Brown University undergrads should feel free to reach out any time!
Prospective PhD students
I might be able to take on a new PhD student to start in Fall 2026. If you are interested in applying for a Fall 2026 start date, please reach out in September or October 2025. The deadline will be December 1, 2025. For more information on the EEOB graduate program and the application process, please see Brown’s website: https://www.brown.edu/academics/ecology-and-evolutionary-biology/graduate-education/admission
Prospective PhD students should send me an email describing your research interests and why my lab is a good choice for your academic and career goals, with a CV attached. For advice on writing a strong grad school inquiry email, you can check out this blog post: https://contemplativemammoth.com/2013/04/08/so-you-want-to-go-to-grad-school-nail-the-inquiry-email/.
Advice and resources for navigating all stages of the grad school application process:
- An overview from UT Knoxville Professor Brian O’Meara, including some information specific to international students: https://applyingtoeeb.info/
- From the Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles DEI Committee (scroll to about the middle of the page): https://ssarherps.org/herp-lab-recruiting/
- From Científico Latino: https://www.cientificolatino.com/grad-school-guide
- A paper by Cesar Estien and colleagues, “Demystifying the graduate school application process”: https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/bes2.2029
If you are getting starting on the grad school application process well in advance, you might also want to look into predoctoral fellowships, which can provide good funding for several years of your graduate program:
- Simons Graduate Fellowships in Ecology and Evolution
- Due July 31, 2025
- Open to applicants applying to or entering PhD programs in the U.S.; no citizenship requirements
- https://www.simonsfoundation.org/grant/simons-graduate-fellowships-in-ecology-and-evolution
- NSF GRFP
- Due October 27, 2025.
- Open to U.S. citizens, nationals, and permanent residents
- https://www.nsfgrfp.org/
- Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowship for New Americans
- Due October 30, 2025
- Open to “New Americans” under age 30, defined as 1) a naturalized U.S. citizen, a green card holder, an asylee or refugee, or someone who graduated from both high school and college in the United States; or 2) the child of immigrants to the U.S.
- https://pdsoros.org/
- HHMI Gilliam Fellowship Program
- Applications are not currently open (as of Aug 12, 2025), but the deadline has previously been in early December.
- Open to U.S. citizens, nationals, and permanent residents, and to DACA recipients
- Student must be in the second or third year of their PhD program
- https://www.hhmi.org/programs/gilliam-fellows
- AAUW International Fellowships (Master’s and Doctoral Degrees)
- Due September 30, 2025
- Open to women are are citizens of any country other than the U.S., and who intend to return to their home country upon completion of their studies
- https://www.aauw.org/resources/programs/international-fellowships/
International students may want to check out this list: https://www.greatcollegedeals.net/scholarships/international-students/
Prospective postdoctoral researchers
Although I am not currently hiring a postdoc on my own funding, I am happy to talk to anyone who might be interested in applying to a fellowship to work with me. It takes time to prepare a good application, so please contact me well before the deadline. See below for some fellowships you might consider.
- NSF PRFB
- Applications are not currently open (as of Aug 12, 2025), but they have previously been due in November. There is considerably more uncertainty in 2025 than in previous years.
- Open to U.S. citizens, nationals, and permanent residents
- https://new.nsf.gov/funding/opportunities/postdoctoral-research-fellowships-biology-prfb
- NSF STEM Ed IPRF
- Applications are not currently open (as of Aug 12, 2025), but they have previously been due in December. There is considerably more uncertainty in 2025 than in previous years.
- Open to U.S. citizens, nationals, and permanent residents
- https://new.nsf.gov/funding/opportunities/science-technology-engineering-mathematics-0/nsf23-544/solicitation
- Life Sciences Research Foundation
- Due October 31, 2025
- No citizenship requirement as long as the work will take place at a U.S. institution
- https://lsrf.org/
- AAUW International Fellowships
- Due September 30, 2025
- Open to women are are citizens of any country other than the U.S., and who intend to return to their home country upon completion of their studies
- https://www.aauw.org/resources/programs/international-postdoctoral-research-fellowships/
- AAUW American Postdoctoral Research Leave Fellowship Program
- Due September 30, 2025
- Open to women who are U.S. citizens or permanent residents
- https://www.aauw.org/resources/programs/fellowships-grants/current-opportunities/american-postdoctoral-research-leave-fellowship-program/
- Human Frontier Science Program
- Letter of intent due May 14 in 2024; will likely be similar in 2025
- No citizenship/nationality requirement, but applicants must propose work in a country where they are not a citizen and where they have not worked for 12 or more months
- https://www.hfsp.org/funding/hfsp-funding/postdoctoral-fellowships
- Brown University Presidential Postdoctoral Fellowship
- Rolling deadline; applications not yet open for 2026 start dates (as of early September, 2025)
- No citizenship requirement
- https://www.brown.edu/about/administration/institutional-diversity/initiatives/presidential-postdoctoral-fellowship
- https://apply.interfolio.com/153332