READ THIS FIRST

First: look at our research projects: if none of the research themes spark your interest, you should look no further on this page and elsewhere for research. *It's not a good look to want to join the lab and not know what we do!

Second: if you are over-committed (i.e. too many classes, other internships, jobs that take half of your schedule), delay your commitment to research at our lab until you have a lighter schedule. Signing up with the lab and not showing is taking someone else’s space. Not showing up in the lab will result in dismissal from the lab.

Third: if you are joining through FOS 402 and the PRISM program, read below before contacting Dr. C. Applications can be found here

- Investigate the publications and projects up and running in the lab, and find one or more research lines that attracts you.

- Consider why you want to join a research lab. Your motivation must come from within, and not just because you think this will look good in your applications to an unrelated graduate school. It probably will not if your research PI cannot attest to your enthusiasm and hard work.

- Your project or thesis will demand at least 40 hr/week over the summer, and at least 10hr/week for writing when the semester is in session.

✴ Know that there are many opportunities within John Jay and CUNY for fellowships

Read the Corthals Lab Advice to Graduate Student Page before you decide to join

- Graduate work will make you feel less outstanding than you thought you were Prepare to be challenged

- If your adviser had the answer to your research question(s), she would have published it already

- Your aim should be to become the established authority in what you do by the time you get your degree. Your adviser need not remind you of that

- There are many opportunities within John Jay and CUNY for fellowships.

GRADUATES

UNDERGRADUATES

- A sharp and quick mind cannot take the place of hard work.

- Own your project, whether you have picked it from a range of projects available in the lab, or developed it over months, it is yours to conduct and finish.

- You will only succeed if your project motivates you enough that you can slog through the uncertainty and frustration of scientific work.

- You MUST be able to work well in a team, with the other students. Negative attitude of all kind (arrogance, being aggressive, or any other negativity) will lead to you being dismissed from the lab, whether or not you have completed your project.

- Your project answers questions that have not been asked before. You must have the determination to answer them.

- Dr. Corthals is very busy, but will make time for truly crucial advice. Be prepared when you meet with her.

- 95% of everything is showing up. You must put in the time reading, working in the lab, analyzing data, etc. to be able to carry out your project. If you are over-committed elsewhere, it is probably not a good idea to join a lab.

- If you don’t know what a word /theory /name means, find out. By yourself. Online. Ask Dr. Google (Google Scholar)

- At lab meetings DON’T BRING PROBLEMS, BRING SOLUTIONS. Do not come to lab meeting with statements such as ‘And I can’t move forward’ or ‘that is as far as I got and now I am stuck’ or worse ‘And I don’t know how to, so I stopped...’. If you stumble on a block in your research, find out solutions by searching in the literature or other online resources. Chances are, other researchers might have faced the same problem, and will have a protocol described to get you out of a tough spot. If not, bring several ways through which you think problem might be approached/resolved at the next lab meeting, so we can all find a way out of it,  as a group.

- The Corthals Lab also works in close collaboration (you can say as one giant lab) with the Davalos Lab at Stony Brook University, Dept of Ecology and Evolution, so you may want to check their webpage too!

DO YOU HAVE THE RIGHT ATTITUDE TO JOIN THE LAB?

JOIN THE LAB