Monday, May 7

Postdoctoral Researcher, EEB, The University of Kansas

Dear Dr. Zhang,

While we have never met, I do follow your research, particularly in regards to sex chromosome dosage compensation. For this reason, I am writing in the hopes that you can help me to reach promising candidates for a post-doctoral opening in my lab concerning a project on sex chromosome dosage compensation.

This position is funded by a recently awarded NSF grant to develop bioinformatic methods related to dosage compensation analysis. While I have tweeted this and posted on forums, I am also trying to recruit high-quality candidates by directly contacting colleagues whose research overlaps with my interests in evolutionary genomics and sex chromosomes. I would very much appreciate you forwarding this opportunity to any individuals or groups who you think might be interested in this position.

To give further background, the primary aim of the work is to develop an R/Bioconductor package that implements a linear-modeling approach to assess directional shifts in gene expression for a large group of genes, such as on a sex chromosome. Accordingly, I am seeking a researcher with expertise in R programming, statistics, and genomic data analysis. Importantly, there is substantial scope in this position to pursue additional lines of research in the area of evolutionary genomics alongside the primary aim of methods development. The complete job posting is here:


I would be quite happy to discuss further details with any prospective applicants. In particular, I will be at the PEQG meeting in Madison, WI next week, in case any prospective candidates would like to discuss the position in person.

Finally, I’d like to comment on the fact that this position is in Kansas, a location that may make some people apprehensive. Nevertheless, the town of Lawrence is an exceptionally appealing place to live, and most people who come to the University of Kansas are pleasantly surprised by the community and lifestyle found here. Additionally, there are several evo/quant/pop genomics labs in the department, so the research environment is also strong.

I appreciate that you are extremely busy and too many emails is a constant burden, so I’m not expecting any direct reply here. Nonetheless, I am deeply grateful for any time and thought you can spare to help me recruit strong candidates for this opportunity.


Thanks very much,

Jamie Walters




James (Jamie) Walters, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
University of Kansas
Ecology & Evolution
m:301-404-2743
o:785-864-4361