Prospective Graduate Students
Interested in joining the lab?
I only accept students for specific projects for which I already have funding.
It is unlikely that I will be accepting a new grad student for Fall 2026; check back in early 2026 for updates
If you are interested in joining the lab in the future or for other projects, please contact me via email. Please include:
My mentoring style
As I see it, it is my job to be your mentor and your guide, and to help you continue to develop into an inquisitive and productive scientist. As a scientist, you will 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, among others.
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 will help you develop these skills, and you will produce an excellent master’s thesis. Most projects in my lab should result in at least one and possibly multiple peer-reviewed papers, and you will 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 will help and guide you, but I can't (and shouldn't, and won't!) do things for you. We'll meet and discuss. We’ll ask lots of questions. I’ll expect you to take the initiative to answer some of these questions. Along the way, you'll struggle, and (at times) you'll fail. Remember: we often learn far more from failures than from successes, so do not be discouraged when things don’t go well and aren’t easy. However, when things fail (and they will) I’ll also expect you to persevere. Overcoming these challenges will make you a better scientist. If it was easy, someone would have done it already.
That said, my door is (almost) always open, so when there are issues you can't resolve, let's talk. And finally, this is science! Most of us do this because we feel passionately about it. I really hope you are 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 only accept students for specific projects for which I already have funding.
It is unlikely that I will be accepting a new grad student for Fall 2026; check back in early 2026 for updates
If you are interested in joining the lab in the future or for other projects, 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, and any specific skills or certifications you have
- (e.g. field experience, mentoring/outreach experience, statistics, data management/R, data syntheses, etc.)
- Why you are interested in this lab specifically
My mentoring style
As I see it, it is my job to be your mentor and your guide, and to help you continue to develop into an inquisitive and productive scientist. As a scientist, you will 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, among others.
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 will help you develop these skills, and you will produce an excellent master’s thesis. Most projects in my lab should result in at least one and possibly multiple peer-reviewed papers, and you will 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 will help and guide you, but I can't (and shouldn't, and won't!) do things for you. We'll meet and discuss. We’ll ask lots of questions. I’ll expect you to take the initiative to answer some of these questions. Along the way, you'll struggle, and (at times) you'll fail. Remember: we often learn far more from failures than from successes, so do not be discouraged when things don’t go well and aren’t easy. However, when things fail (and they will) I’ll also expect you to persevere. Overcoming these challenges will make you a better scientist. If it was easy, someone would have done it already.
That said, my door is (almost) always open, so when there are issues you can't resolve, let's talk. And finally, this is science! Most of us do this because we feel passionately about it. I really hope you are 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 beach intertidal fieldwork for Pismo clams, work as part of the CCFRP fisheries monitoring program, and work assisting with information syntheses related to offshore wind and environmental monitoring.
Interested students should contact Dr. Ruttenberg or specific lab members about other research opportunities:
Erin Johnston for fisheries work
Jami Clayton for Pismo clam work
Zoe Bixby for Offshore Wind/Energy work
Interested students should contact Dr. Ruttenberg or specific lab members about other research opportunities:
Erin Johnston for fisheries work
Jami Clayton for Pismo clam work
Zoe Bixby for Offshore Wind/Energy work