Gerstner Scholars in Bioinformatics & Computational Biology main content.
Gerstner Scholars in Bioinformatics & Computational Biology
The American Museum of Natural History seeks candidates for two postdoctoral positions in this 2019 application cycle, including a special opportunity for applicants who want to pursue comparative biology research relevant to human health or biomedicine.
Successful applicants will pursue independent and collaborative computational research in integrative studies of genomics, spatial bioinformatics or biodiversity informatics, alongside faculty and other researchers interested in phylogenetics, phylogeography, evolutionary, and high- throughput phenomic/phenotypic studies.
Gerstner Scholars in Bioinformatics & Computational Biology (GSB&CB) also will contribute to the design, development and implementation of new algorithms and other bioinformatics tools that are customized for Museum research and address emerging big data issues in phylogenetic and comparative biology analyses. In association with their professional development and contributions to the Museum, a portion of each Scholars’ efforts will include teaching and workshops (with the Richard Gilder Graduate School and Sackler Institute for Comparative Genomics) and assistance to Museum scientists and students with their bioinformatics and computational biology research.
The initial appointment will be for one year, potentially renewable for one to two additional years based on performance, and includes a highly competitive salary and generous benefits.
Requirements: Applicants must have a PhD in Biological Sciences, Bioinformatics, Computational Biology, Computer Science, Molecular Biology, Genomics, or a related discipline, with experience in the bioinformatics of large biological data sets. Proficiency in Python, Perl, and/or R is required, and familiarity with those and other languages, such as C++/C, or Java, is desirable.
Candidates should have documented skills in genome informatics, such as sequence processing, de novo and reference guided assembly, read mapping, gene annotation and discovery, and/or processing phenomic, transcriptomic, or phylogenomic datasets. Candidates should have extensive research experience with a solid publication record, ideally with some experience in phylogenetic methods, and excellent interpersonal, writing and problem-solving skills.
Applicants are encouraged to contact potential research mentors/collaborators in advance to develop a research statement (see: RGGS Faculty List or RGGS Faculty Search). This program encourages applications from scholars with research interests that may have broad implications for such themes as advancing our understanding of the evolution and diversity of species and the "tree of life," genomics, and/or human and medical research. Read about prior Gerstner Scholars.
Next Deadline: December 5, 2019
Download and read through the two PDFs below before applying.
Notice of Non-Discrimination
The American Museum of Natural History is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer. The Museum does not discriminate with respect to employment, or admission or access to Museum facilities, programs or activities on the basis of race, creed, color, religion, age, disability, marital status, partnership status, gender, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, genetic information, pregnancy, alienage or citizenship status, current or former participation in the uniformed services, status as a veteran, or national or ethnic origin, or on account of any other basis prohibited by applicable City, State, or Federal law. Additional protections are afforded in employment based on arrest or conviction record, status as a victim of domestic violence, stalking and sex offenses, unemployment status, and credit history, in each case to the extent provided by law. The Museum’s Diversity Statement and Reasonable Accommodation procedures are available at the AMNH careers site.
Current Gerstner Scholars in Bioinformatics & Computational Biology
Research Interests: Bioinformatic, population genetic, and geographic information systems approaches for studying therapeutically relevant and theoretically informative evolutionary processes, chiefly utilizing within-host viral, cancer, and human immune allele data.
Ph.D.: University of South Carolina, Dept. of Biological Sciences; “Studying Within-Host Viral Evolution Using Pooled Next-Generation Sequencing Data”. 2016
Alumni Gerstner Scholars in Bioinformatics & Computational Biology
Research Interests: The relationship between selection efficacy, host range and effective population size in butterflies and bacteria.
Ph.D.: Princeton University, Dept. of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology; “Natural Selection in Lepidoptera Across Biological Scales”. 2015
Research Interests: Using spatial bioinformatics and primary biodiversity data to study plant community ecology, species distributions, and biogeography and paleoclimate of the American Southwest during and following the terminal Pleistocene glaciation.
Ph.D.: Cornell University, School of Integrated Plant Science, Section of Plant Biology; “The intersection of climate and niche: Likelihood estimation of modern and past climate using plant biodiversity”. 2016
Research Interests: Evolutionary biology, statistics, and bioinformatics to explore genome evolution in eukaryotes, using malaria parasites as a model.
Ph.D.: Harvard University, Dept. of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology; “Recombination and Genome Evolution in Plasmodium falciparum”. 2007
This Fellowship is made possible through the generous support of the Gerstner Family Foundation.