Prospective Graduate Students
Interested in joining the lab?
I usually only accept students for specific projects for which I already have funding (see below for information for F2023).
If you are interested in joining my lab in the future, please contact me via email. Please include:
Note: I will likely be accepting a new grad student for fall of 2023 on an aquaculture and field project on Pismo clams and Olympia oysters in collaboration with Dr. Kevin Johnson and Dr. Emily Bockmon. See here for a description of the project and information about how to apply.
My mentoring style
As I see it, I would be your mentor and your guide, and it is my job to help you develop into an inquisitive and productive scientist. As a scientist, you will learn/develop your skills in understanding and evaluating the scientific literature, experimental and study design, data management/data analyses, presentation of scientific information (oral and written), writing (papers and proposals), professional development, and critical thinking, to name a few.
Your skills may be more advanced in some of these and less in others, but I don’t expect you to be great at all or even most of these. If you were, you probably wouldn’t need to be looking for a master's degree!
I would help you develop these skills, and I would help produce what we both hope and expect will be an excellent master’s thesis. Most projects in my lab should result in at least one and possibly multiple peer-reviewed papers, and I would expect you to lead these. These papers are usually required by the funders of whatever project you'd be doing, and these papers will also demonstrate your competence to the scientific community. Peer-reviewed papers also help you in your career, whatever the next steps are.
I would be here to help and guide you, but I cannot (and will not) do things for you. We’d meet and we’d discuss. We’d ask lots of questions. I’d expect you to take the initiative to answer some of these questions. I’d expect you to struggle, and I’d expect you to fail (at least at times), so do not be discouraged when things don’t go well and aren’t easy. However, when things fail (and they will) I’d also expect you to persevere. Overcoming these challenges would make you a better scientist (and hopefully a better person). Remember: if it was easy, someone would have done it already.
That said, my door is (almost) always open, so when there are issues you cannot resolve, I'd encourage you to talk me. And finally, this is science! Most of us do this because we feel passionately about it. We should be enjoying what we’re doing (at least more often than not). So let’s have fun in the process!
(and of course, there's more, but we'll get to that when you get here)
I usually only accept students for specific projects for which I already have funding (see below for information for F2023).
If you are interested in joining my lab in the future, please contact me via email. Please include:
- A description of your previous experience
- What you hope to learn by completing a MS degree
- A short CV that includes GPA, GREs (if relevant), and any specific skills or certifications you have
- (e.g. otolith processing, AAUS Scuba certification, small boat experience/certification, etc.)
- Why you are interested in this lab specifically
Note: I will likely be accepting a new grad student for fall of 2023 on an aquaculture and field project on Pismo clams and Olympia oysters in collaboration with Dr. Kevin Johnson and Dr. Emily Bockmon. See here for a description of the project and information about how to apply.
My mentoring style
As I see it, I would be your mentor and your guide, and it is my job to help you develop into an inquisitive and productive scientist. As a scientist, you will learn/develop your skills in understanding and evaluating the scientific literature, experimental and study design, data management/data analyses, presentation of scientific information (oral and written), writing (papers and proposals), professional development, and critical thinking, to name a few.
Your skills may be more advanced in some of these and less in others, but I don’t expect you to be great at all or even most of these. If you were, you probably wouldn’t need to be looking for a master's degree!
I would help you develop these skills, and I would help produce what we both hope and expect will be an excellent master’s thesis. Most projects in my lab should result in at least one and possibly multiple peer-reviewed papers, and I would expect you to lead these. These papers are usually required by the funders of whatever project you'd be doing, and these papers will also demonstrate your competence to the scientific community. Peer-reviewed papers also help you in your career, whatever the next steps are.
I would be here to help and guide you, but I cannot (and will not) do things for you. We’d meet and we’d discuss. We’d ask lots of questions. I’d expect you to take the initiative to answer some of these questions. I’d expect you to struggle, and I’d expect you to fail (at least at times), so do not be discouraged when things don’t go well and aren’t easy. However, when things fail (and they will) I’d also expect you to persevere. Overcoming these challenges would make you a better scientist (and hopefully a better person). Remember: if it was easy, someone would have done it already.
That said, my door is (almost) always open, so when there are issues you cannot resolve, I'd encourage you to talk me. And finally, this is science! Most of us do this because we feel passionately about it. We should be enjoying what we’re doing (at least more often than not). So let’s have fun in the process!
(and of course, there's more, but we'll get to that when you get here)
Prospective Undergraduate Students
We always welcome motivated Cal Poly undergraduate students to get involved in both out laboratory and field work. Our undergraduate research teams work closely with master's students on their research throughout the year working on current research topics. Current opportunities include intertidal fieldwork, shellfish laboratory work, and coral reef data entry and analysis. If you have scientific diving experience, there are opportunities to participate in summer coral reef ecology field research.
Interested students should contact Dr. Ruttenberg (bruttenb [at] calpoly [dot] edu) or specific graduate students about research opportunities (e.g. master's student Erin Johnston about fisheries work: ejohn122 [at] calpoly [dot] edu; master's student Marissa Bills about the Pismo clam and aquaculture work: mbills [at] calpoly [dot] edu).
Interested students should contact Dr. Ruttenberg (bruttenb [at] calpoly [dot] edu) or specific graduate students about research opportunities (e.g. master's student Erin Johnston about fisheries work: ejohn122 [at] calpoly [dot] edu; master's student Marissa Bills about the Pismo clam and aquaculture work: mbills [at] calpoly [dot] edu).