Joining the lab

The Pringle Lab will always consider prospective PhD students! If you think your interests are an outstanding fit for the Lab, and that the Lab is an outstanding fit for you, based on reading our recent publications and other information available on the web, then we encourage you to apply to Princeton’s EEB graduate program. The Pringle Lab and Princeton’s EEB Department seek applicants who embody the broadest possible spectrum of backgrounds and experiences. At present, the Pringle Lab is particularly interested in prospective PhD students who are interested in combining field research with genomic and/or remote-sensing tools to answer ecological, behavioral, and/or evolutionary questions in African ecosystems.

For general information about applying to the graduate school, please see the EEB Graduate Program website. Your application statement should clearly identify Rob as a prospective primary advisor and explain why you view the Pringle Lab as a good fit for you and your research interests, but you may also mention any other Princeton faculty (in EEB or any other department) whose work is interesting to you. We also encourage you to dedicate significant space in your statement to describing your scientific interests and goals as specifically as possible — what is one problem you might like to work on as a PhD student, and why? Note that this statement is not binding; most students do not work on what they propose in their application, but such statements give us a window into your thought process, goals, and motivations and as such are more useful than a description of your previous activities and accomplishments (which are evident in your other application materials and letters). Note that admissions decisions are made by the EEB faculty at large, and that all applications are carefully considered and given equal weight regardless of whether an applicant has made contact with their prospective advisor in advance; the volume of inquiries we receive is such that we are not able to reply to all of them, but that should not be interpreted as a reason not to apply!