Join the lab
We welcome students and researchers interested in pursuing or advancing a career in botany.
Postdocs Postdoctoral opportunities and fellowship development The application period for the Fall 2026 grass phylogeography postdoc is now closed.
Status: The application period for the Fall 2026 Postdoctoral Research Associate position focused on grass phylogeography, taxonomy, genomics, and phenomics is now closed.
Individuals interested in developing postdoctoral projects with Dawson are encouraged to get in touch. Please briefly describe your research interests, possible project ideas, relevant experience, and potential funding sources or fellowship programs.
Dawson is especially interested in collaborating with a motivated postdoctoral researcher to develop an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowships in Biology proposal that uses reflectance spectroscopy, museomics, and artificial intelligence to pursue questions relevant to biotechnology. Potential directions could include using herbarium specimens and other biological collections to discover, model, or predict plant chemical, functional, or evolutionary diversity.
Other possible areas for postdoctoral project development include Erythroxylaceae, North American grasses, western Ecuador floristics and conservation (¡Viva Centinela!), the Texas flora, herbarium spectral biology, and the development of collections-based biodiversity data infrastructure.
Postdoctoral researchers in the lab may also have opportunities to engage with a global network of botanists and herbarium curators through IHerbSpec.
To inquire about future postdoctoral opportunities, please email dawson.white@gmail.com with a short statement of interest, a CV, and any relevant information about fellowship timelines or funding mechanisms.
Graduate students Master’s and PhD students for Fall 2027 The lab is recruiting highly motivated and qualified students whose research interests align with the lab.
I am recruiting graduate students to begin in Fall 2027. I am looking for highly motivated and qualified individuals with research interests that align with the lab—which is pretty broad.
If you are a graduate student interested in joining the lab for the 2027 admission cycle, you should review graduate admissions criteria and instructions for the Department of Ecology and Conservation Biology at Texas A&M: ECCB admissions and aid.
Please note that the Department of Ecology and Conservation Biology at Texas A&M has two separate degree-awarding tracks: ECCB graduate degrees and the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology interdisciplinary graduate degree program (PhD only). Prospective students are encouraged to research these degree programs based upon their graduate study and career goals and identify the program that best suits them. Dr. White can advise graduate student lab members in either program.
Please email me to connect and discuss your fit in the lab.
Undergraduates at Texas A&M Herbarium internships, summer fieldwork, and independent research Opportunities for professional development and learning will begin in Fall 2026.
Opportunities for herbarium internships, summer fieldwork experience, professional development, and learning will begin in Fall 2026.
You are also welcome to email me directly about independent research projects.
Contact Get in touch Send a brief message describing your interests, background, and the opportunity you are asking about.
To inquire about postdoctoral, graduate, undergraduate, or collaborative opportunities, please email the contact listed in the site footer.
For postdoctoral inquiries, please include a letter of interest and CV. For graduate student inquiries, please include a brief description of your research interests, relevant experience, and which graduate program you are considering.