Postdoc position: image databases / hymenoptera phylogeny

[Fredrik Ronquist]

POSTDOC POSITION: Comparative Hymenoptera morphologist / coordinator of image
database development

I am looking for a postdoc candidate for a “Tree of Life” project funded by NSF.
The successful candidate will work with the phylogenetics of parasitic wasps
and other Hymenoptera but will also participate as a biological expert in the
development of an image database for morphological phylogenetics and
biodiversity research.

Within the Tree of Life project, my group is responsible for phylogenetic
analysis of higher relationships in the groups Cynipoidea, Proctotrupoidea, and
Ceraphronoidea. Our tasks also include analysis of higher-level apocritan and
hymenopteran relationships using statistical methods, estimation of divergence
times, and comparative morphological studies of the mesosoma across the
Hymenoptera. The successful candidate will collect morphological data,
particularly for the Proctotrupoidea and Ceraphronoidea, and perform
large-scale phylogenetic analyses for these and other hymenopteran taxa based
on both morphological and molecular data. Another important task for the
successful candidate will be to contribute biological expertise and work
together with database and web experts in the development of a general-purpose
image database (MorphBank; http://www.morphbank.net) for morphological
phylogenetics and biodiversity research. Both activities will involve extensive
collaboration with hymenopterists and other biologists around the world. Ample
opportunities will exist for the candidate to be involved in molecular
sequencing as well.

The successful candidate should have extensive experience in comparative insect
morphology, scanning electron microscopy, digital imaging, and morphological
phylogenetics and at least some knowledge of hymenopteran diversity and
morphology. Previous exposure to database and web technologies or participation
in biodiversity informatics projects is desirable.

The postdoc position is for two to four years depending on the funding situation
and the success of the candidate. The position is in the Computational
Evolutionary Biology (CEB) group, a recent addition to the School of
Computational Science and Information Technology at the Florida State
University in Tallahassee. The CEB group specializes in development of software
for evolutionary inference, including popular programs such as PAUP and
MrBayes, and has access to excellent computational resources. Please find more
information about the position above and three other postdoc positions in the
CEB group, instructions for preparation of the application etc at

http://www.csit.fsu.edu/employment_opp/CSIT_Ad_4.pdf.

Applications will be reviewed starting on AUGUST 9.


Fredrik Ronquist
School of Computational Science and Information Technology
Dirac Science Library
Florida State University
Tallahassee, FL 32306-4120
USA
ronquist at csit.fsu.edu