The Kawahara Lab at the University of Florida, Gainesville, USA, is currently seeking a postdoctoral fellow to conduct phylogenomic and acoustic research on moths (Lepidoptera), in the context of their interactions with predatory bats that use ultrasound to hunt insects. Specifically, in collaboration with Barber Sensory Ecology Lab at Boise State University, the candidate will quantify the physical information available to bats in returning echoes from saturniid moths (i.e., “moth echoic profiles”), build a phylogeny of saturniid moth species, and use these data to look for evidence of convergent evolution and determine the evolutionary history of echoes in the moth family Saturniidae. Published research on related topics from the team include Barber et al. (2015: PNAS), Rubin et al. (2018: Science Advances), Hamilton et al. (2022: Syst. Biol.) among others. The project is for 2 years.

Required: 1) A Ph.D. in biology, entomology, or a related field, 2) Experience with using phylogenomic datasets to build phylogenetic trees, 3) Experience with computer programming/scripting in Perl/Python/R etc., 4) Familiarity with high-performance clusters and bioinformatics pipelines, 5) Strong ability to write and communicate in English. An interest in insects is desired, but not required. The successful candidate will work closely with Kawahara Lab staff, postdocs, and students, as well as our collaborators in the Barber Lab. Additional responsibilities include student training and publishing papers. Position available immediately. The Kawahara Lab welcomes all groups, regardless of racial or ethnic background and encourages underrepresented groups to apply. A working Code of Conduct document for the lab is available online (https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/kawahara-lab/lab-code-of-conduct/).

Tentative timeline (may change):
October 20, 2023: Application deadline.
October 23-October 25, 2023: Evaluation of applications.
October 27-October 31, 2023: Short-listed candidates will be contacted for an interview.
November 8-November 13, 2023: Interviews.
November 14-November 16, 2023: Deliberation and decision on top candidate.

Once a candidate has accepted the job offer, we will contact all applicants to let them know about our decision.

Salary: $60,000.

To ensure full consideration, please send a single pdf by October 20, 2023, containing a cover letter (explaining your background and fit for this position), CV, and list of 3 qualified references, to Akito Kawahara at kawahara@flmnh.ufl.edu with the email subject line: Postdoc_KawaharaLab. Applications that do not follow this format may not be considered. Any questions can be addressed to Akito Kawahara at the email above.

Akito Y. Kawahara, Ph.D.
Director, Curator and Professor
McGuire Center for Lepidoptera and Biodiversity
Florida Museum of Natural History
University of Florida
Powell Hall, 3215 Hull Road
Gainesville, FL 32611-2710 USA
Tel: 352.273.2018
Email: kawahara@flmnh.ufl.edu
http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/mcguire/kawahara/