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To Prospective Students

Thanks for your interest in my lab! Each fall I consider applications from highly qualified individuals who are interested in pursuing graduate study. Although I generally support my students on a combination of research and departmental teaching assistantships, I encourage all students to apply for fellowships and grants to help support their own work.

As someone contemplating graduate school, you have a lot to consider in choosing an advisor, a lab, and a university. Given this, I understand your need to find out as much as possible about me and UC Santa Barbara before applying. Below you will find information about my philosophy of mentoring students, my expectations of you as a graduate student, and websites you can access for further information.

I believe that I have three goals as a graduate mentor. First, it is my responsibility to get you well versed in the fundamental principles of ecology and evolution, especially those paradigms that are most relevant to your professional goals and interests. Second, my role is to advise you in primary research, helping you develop a solid proposal to test a well-founded idea, and then giving you advice on how to maximize your chance of making a novel contribution to science. Lastly, it is my goal to help you develop the skills, connections, and opportunities that will ensure a successful postgraduate career. Here are a few things I focus on to achieve these goals ...

Independent Thinking

I want my students to develop and pursue their own questions with vigor. They are encouraged to work on projects that complement, but are divergent from my own interests. I always help my students develop their ideas, but never 'hold their hand'. If you are not prepared to think and work somewhat independently, please consider another lab.

Collaboration

I want students to contribute to the broader intellectual environment of my lab, and I encourage them to participate with other labs and other students in scholarly activities. It is important to me that students develop a research 'program', not just a dissertation topic.

Questions ... Not Systems

It is important to me that student research be driven by a fundamental question that will advance the fields of ecology and evolution as a whole. I have no interest in training someone to focus on a particular type of ecosystem or group of organisms. If you are only thinking of pursuing graduate studies because you love streams, or dolphins, or mountains ... my lab is not the place for you.

Creativity

I encourage students to track down clues wherever they take you, be they traditional methods of science, or more unconventional ones. Be prepared to do whatever it takes to answer your fundamental question.

Breadth

While one's own research needs to be highly focused, I always want students to keep the 'bigger-picture' in mind. To facilitate this, I support a graduate education that spans a wide variety of organisms and ecosystems, that considers a broad array of questions, and that incorporates numerous theoretical, experimental, and observational approaches in science.

Communication

There's little value in research if you don't tell someone about it. So I require (and help) all of my students distribute their work at scientific meetings and to publish in scholarly journals or popular media. Quite frankly, if you don't like to speak or write, you should consider another career.

Basic and Applied Perspectives

Although basic research is key to understanding the environmental problems we face today, I encourage every student to pursue the applied aspects of their research in conservation and restoration ecology.

In my experience, the most successful students are those who are enthusiastic, hardworking, and committed. It certainly helps to have terrific grades and high GRE scores, but it is far more important to be persistent, and driven by curiosity. If this sounds like you, then I encourage you to email me. Please be sure to detail your background, why you wish to pursue graduate study, and why your research interests are a good fit for my lab. Also attach your CV (resume), a writing sample, and any relevant transcripts or test scores. These will help me assess how competitive you might be for the UCSB graduate program (cardinale@lifesci.ucsb.edu).