I welcome thoughtful inquiries from prospective postdocs, graduate students, and interns interested in joining the lab.
General inquiries can be directed to mullerh@si.edu or mullerlandaulab@gmail.com
Postdocs
Smithsonian funding
Potential sources of Smithsonian funding for postdocs in the lab are the competitively awarded Smithsonian postdoctoral fellowships, including STRI’s 3-year Coates and Tupper postdoctoral fellowships (deadline June 15), the standard 1-year Smithsonian postdoctoral fellowships (deadline October 15), which can be extended to two years by a Secretary’s Distinguished Research Fellowship, the GEO-TREES postdoctoral fellowship program (prior deadline 21 January 2026, another round forthcoming),and others. These fellowships are intended to support postdoctoral scholars working on projects of their own design, projects described in the fellowship proposals. Prospective applicants need to identify a Smithsonian staff scientist who could serve as an advisor (and potentially one or more co-advisors as well), and are encouraged to contact those scientists well in advance of the deadlines to discuss their interests and receive feedback on their ideas. I welcome such inquiries.
Non-Smithsonian funding
A variety of other fellowships can also support postdocs at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama, with eligibility often specific to the citizenship of the applicant. For example, for US citizens, options include the NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowships in Biology, Ford Foundation fellowships, Fullbright fellowships for research and teaching, and Simons Postdoctoral Fellowships in Plant Biology. European researchers can apply for Marie Curie global postdoctoral fellowships. For researchers who obtained their PhDs in the Netherlands, there are the Rubcion fellowships for up to 2 years of postdoctoral support. Many countries have similar programs to competitively fund international postdoctoral fellowships for their top young scientists. I welcome inquiries from prospective postdocs who have identified potential funding sources and are interested in discussing possible research projects.
Graduate students
STRI hosts many graduate students based at universities around the world who come to Panama to do their field research, and STRI fellowships provide funding to many of these students. STRI scientists often co-advise these graduate students, and may serve on dissertation committees. I welcome inquiries from graduate students with related research interests.
Interns
Several of the current research projects in my lab provide opportunities for interns to contribute: quantifying landscape-level variation in tropical forest structure, function, and composition and their change over time, automated species classification of tropical plants, evaluating the climate sensitivity of tropical tree growth, and GEOTREES terrestrial laser scanning. Ideally internships extend for 9-12 months, with flexible start dates. All interns have the opportunity to gain experience in tropical forest field data collection, data management and data cleaning using R and GitHub, statistical analyses and figure preparation using the R programming language, reviewing scientific literature, scientific discussions in English, working in a team with lab members and collaborators from diverse backgrounds, preparation of scientific presentations, preparation of data publications, and the scholarly publishing process. The ideal candidates have a bachelor’s degree in a relevant field, strong quantitative skills including programming experience, strong English oral and written communication skills, at least basic Spanish oral communication skills, and the ability and motivation to lead or co-lead a scholarly publication. The positions are particularly well suited for candidates seeking more research experience prior to graduate school.
At this time, I do not have discretionary funds to support internships. I welcome inquiries from prospective interns who have identified other sources of funding and/or who plan to apply to the general STRI internship program (deadlines February 15 and October 15). The STRI internship program supports 3-month internships with a modest stipend sufficient to cover living expenses in Panama (US$1250/month), as well as roundtrip travel to Panama in the case of non-Panamanian candidates. I can only support one to two applications per internship deadline. If you are interested in applying for STRI internship funding in relation to one of the projects in my lab, please email your curriculum vitae, a cover letter in English succinctly describing your qualifications and why you are interested in this internship, a scientific writing sample (e.g., undergraduate thesis, term paper, lab report; this can be in English or Spanish), a commented sample of code you have written (preferably in R or Python), an unofficial copy of your undergraduate transcript, and unofficial copies of standardized test scores (e.g., GRE, SAT, ACT for US students, A-levels for UK students, etc.) to mullerlandaulab@gmail.com at least two weeks before the deadline.
Quantitative Forest Ecology 