Graduate Studies

Graduate Studies

Updated January 26, 2023

For Students
Below is a list of arachnologists who specialize on various aspects of the biology of arachnids. Students interested in pursuing graduate degrees in a particular area of research should explore the research being conducted by professors whose expertise overlaps their own interests. The links below will take you to that researcher’s professional website. Students should become familiar with the research of a professor before contacting that person directly about the possibility of joining a lab.
The primary purpose of this list is to provide a service to the academic community as part of a continuing effort of the AAS to promote and develop the field of Arachnology. The American Arachnological Society makes neither recommendations nor endorsements of persons or organizations listed.

You can view sponsors alphabetically or by area of research:

 

For Faculty and Graduate Sponsors
If you would like to add your name to the list of faculty interested in supervising graduate students, send an email to webmaster@~@americanarachnology.org with your professional URL.

List of Graduate Studies Sponsors – Alphabetically
Ingi Agnarsson: http://www.theridiidae.com/ingi-agnarsson.html
Maydianne Andrade: http://www.utsc.utoronto.ca/labs/andrade/
Leticia Aviles: https://biodiversity.ubc.ca/people/leticia-aviles
Nadia Ayoub: https://www.wlu.edu/directory/profile?ID=x8123
Todd Blackledge: https://www.uakron.edu/biology/faculty-staff/detail.dot?identity=1116136
Jason Bond: http://entomology.ucdavis.edu/Faculty/Jason_E_Bond/
Christopher Brown: https://www.tntech.edu/directory/cas/biology/christopher-brown.php
Christopher Buddle: https://www.mcgill.ca/nrs/staff/academic/buddle
Mercedes Burns: https://burnslab.umbc.edu
Paula Cushing: https://www.dmns.org/science/zoology/staff/paula-cushing/
Anne Danielson Francois: http://www-personal.umd.umich.edu/~danfranc/
Michael Draney: https://www.uwgb.edu/biology/faculty-staff/draneym/
Damian Elias: https://nature.berkeley.edu/eliaslab/
Lauren Esposito: https://www.calacademy.org/explore-science/lauren-esposito
Matthias Foellmer: http://www.adelphi.edu/faculty/profiles/profile.php?PID=0436
Kasey Fowler-Finn: http://bio.slu.edu/fowlerfinn/
Oscar Francke: http://www.ibiologia.unam.mx/html/Site_2/Curador.html
Doug Gaffin: https://scorpionlab.douglasgaffin.com/
Jessica Garb: https://www.uml.edu/Sciences/biology/faculty/garb-jessica.aspx
Rosemary Gillespie: https://nature.berkeley.edu/evolab/
Gonzalo Giribet: https://oeb.harvard.edu/people/gonzalo-giribet
Cheryl Hayashi: https://www.amnh.org/our-research/staff-directory/cheryl-y.-hayashi/
Eileen Hebets: http://biosci.unl.edu/eileen-hebets
Marshal Hedin: https://marshalhedinlab.com/
Gustavo Hormiga: https://biology.columbian.gwu.edu/gustavo-hormiga
Beth Jakob: http://ejakob.popslice.com/
Thomas Jones: https://www.etsu.edu/cas/biology/facultystaff/jonestc.php
Glauco Machado: http://ecologia.ib.usp.br/index.php/docentes/glauco
Wayne Maddison: https://biodiversity.ubc.ca/people/faculty/wayne-maddison
Susan Masta: http://web.pdx.edu/~smasta/
Marc Milne: http://www.uindy.edu/cas/biology/faculty
Brent Opell: https://www.biol.vt.edu/faculty/opell/
Alfredo Peretti: http://cordoba.academia.edu/AlfredoPeretti
Fernando Pérez-Miles: http://education.academia.edu/FernandoP%C3%A9rezmiles
Ricardo Pinto-da-Rocha: http://www.ib.usp.br/pt/dep-zoologia/corpo-docente/455-prof-dr-ricardo-pinto-da-rocha.html
Lorenzo Prendini: https://www.amnh.org/our-research/staff-directory/lorenzo-prendini/
Heather Proctor: http://www.biology.ualberta.ca/faculty/heather_proctor// and https://hproctorlabuofa.blog/
Susan Riechert: http://eeb.bio.utk.edu/people/susan-riechert/
Andrew Roberts: https://u.osu.edu/robertslab/people/dr-roberts-cv/
Ann Rypstra: http://www.units.miamioh.edu/spiderlab/
Paul Selden: https://geo.ku.edu/selden-paul
Cara Shillington: http://www.emich.edu/biology/faculty/shillington.php
Jeff Shultz: http://jwshultz.weebly.com
Deborah Smith: https://eeb.ku.edu/deborah-r-smith
George Uetz:https://researchdirectory.uc.edu/p/uetzgw
Shawn Wilder: http://integrativebiology.okstate.edu/news/zoology-news/8-people/faculty/325-shawn-wilder
Rodrigo Willemart: http://each.uspnet.usp.br/willemart/?lang=en
Hannah Wood: https://naturalhistory.si.edu/staff/hannah-wood

 

List of Graduate Studies Sponsors by Research Area

List of Graduate Studies Sponsors – Systematics/Taxonomy
Ingi Agnarsson: http://www.theridiidae.com/ingi-agnarsson.html
Jason Bond: http://entomology.ucdavis.edu/Faculty/Jason_E_Bond/
Mercedes Burns: https://burnslab.umbc.edu
Paula Cushing: https://www.dmns.org/science/zoology/staff/paula-cushing/
Lauren Esposito: https://www.calacademy.org/explore-science/lauren-esposito
Oscar Francke: http://www.ibiologia.unam.mx/html/Site_2/Curador.html
Gonzalo Giribet: https://oeb.harvard.edu/people/gonzalo-giribet
Marshal Hedin: https://marshalhedinlab.com/
Gustavo Hormiga: https://biology.columbian.gwu.edu/gustavo-hormiga
Wayne Maddison: https://biodiversity.ubc.ca/people/faculty/wayne-maddison
Susan Masta: http://web.pdx.edu/~smasta/
Fernando Pérez-Miles: http://education.academia.edu/FernandoP%C3%A9rezmiles
Lorenzo Prendini: https://www.amnh.org/our-research/staff-directory/lorenzo-prendini/
Jeff Shultz: http://jwshultz.weebly.com

 

List of Graduate Studies Sponsors – Morphology, Physiology, Silk and Venom Evolution
Nadia Ayoub: https://www.wlu.edu/directory/profile?ID=x8123
Todd Blackledge: https://www.uakron.edu/biology/faculty-staff/detail.dot?identity=1116136
Doug Gaffin: https://scorpionlab.douglasgaffin.com/
Jessica Garb: https://www.uml.edu/Sciences/biology/faculty/garb-jessica.aspx
Cheryl Hayashi: https://www.amnh.org/our-research/staff-directory/cheryl-y.-hayashi/
Brent Opell: https://www.biol.vt.edu/faculty/opell/
Alfredo Peretti: http://cordoba.academia.edu/AlfredoPeretti
Lorenzo Prendini: https://www.amnh.org/our-research/staff-directory/lorenzo-prendini/
Cara Shillington: http://www.emich.edu/biology/faculty/shillington.php
Jeff Shultz: http://entomology.umd.edu/shultz-jeffrey-w.html
Hannah Wood: https://naturalhistory.si.edu/staff/hannah-wood

 

List of Graduate Studies Sponsors – Ecology, Biodiversity, and Biogeography
Christopher Buddle: https://www.mcgill.ca/nrs/staff/academic/buddle
Michael Draney: https://www.uwgb.edu/biology/faculty-staff/draneym/
Lauren Esposito: https://www.calacademy.org/explore-science/lauren-esposito
Matthias Foellmer: http://www.adelphi.edu/faculty/profiles/profile.php?PID=0436
Rosemary Gillespie: https://nature.berkeley.edu/evolab/
Lorenzo Prendini: https://www.amnh.org/our-research/staff-directory/lorenzo-prendini/
Ann Rypstra: http://www.units.miamioh.edu/spiderlab/
Shawn Wilder: http://integrativebiology.okstate.edu/news/zoology-news/8-people/faculty/325-shawn-wilder

 

List of Graduate Studies Sponsors – Behavior & Life History
Leticia Aviles: https://biodiversity.ubc.ca/people/leticia-aviles
Christopher Brown: https://www.tntech.edu/directory/cas/biology/christopher-brown.php
Mercedes Burns: https://burnslab.umbc.edu
Anne Danielson Francois: http://www-personal.umd.umich.edu/~danfranc/
Damian Elias: https://nature.berkeley.edu/eliaslab/
Kasey Fowler-Finn: http://bio.slu.edu/fowlerfinn/
Eileen Hebets: http://biosci.unl.edu/eileen-hebets
Beth Jakob: http://ejakob.popslice.com/
Thomas Jones: https://www.etsu.edu/cas/biology/facultystaff/jonestc.php
Glauco Machado: http://ecologia.ib.usp.br/index.php/docentes/glauco
Marc Milne: http://www.uindy.edu/cas/biology/faculty
Susan Riechert: http://eeb.bio.utk.edu/people/susan-riechert/
Andrew Roberts: https://u.osu.edu/robertslab/people/dr-roberts-cv/
Jeff Shultz: http://jwshultz.weebly.com
Deborah Smith: https://eeb.ku.edu/deborah-r-smith
George Uetz: https://researchdirectory.uc.edu/p/uetzgw
Rodrigo Willemart: http://each.uspnet.usp.br/willemart/?lang=en

 

List of Graduate Studies Sponsors Specializing in non-spider arachnid groups or other specialties

Arachnida (various groups)
Alfredo Peretti: http://cordoba.academia.edu/AlfredoPeretti
Marshal Hedin: https://marshalhedinlab.com/
Lorenzo Prendini: https://www.amnh.org/our-research/staff-directory/lorenzo-prendini/

Paleoarachnology
Paul Selden: https://geo.ku.edu/selden-paul

Acarina
Heather Proctor: http://www.biology.ualberta.ca/faculty/heather_proctor// and https://hproctorlabuofa.blog/

Amblypygi
Eileen Hebets: http://biosci.unl.edu/eileen-hebets
Lorenzo Prendini: https://www.amnh.org/our-research/staff-directory/lorenzo-prendini/

Opiliones
Mercedes Burns: https://burnslab.umbc.edu
Gonzalo Giribet: https://oeb.harvard.edu/people/gonzalo-giribet
Marshal Hedin: https://marshalhedinlab.com/
Glauco Machado: http://ecologia.ib.usp.br/index.php/docentes/glauco
Ricardo Pinto-da-Rocha: http://www.ib.usp.br/pt/dep-zoologia/corpo-docente/455-prof-dr-ricardo-pinto-da-rocha.html
Jeff Shultz: http://entomology.umd.edu/shultz-jeffrey-w.html
Rodrigo Willemart: http://each.uspnet.usp.br/willemart/?lang=en

Scorpiones
Christopher Brown: https://www.tntech.edu/directory/cas/biology/christopher-brown.php
Lauren Esposito: https://www.calacademy.org/explore-science/lauren-esposito
Oscar Francke: http://www.ibiologia.unam.mx/html/Site_2/Curador.html
Doug Gaffin: https://scorpionlab.douglasgaffin.com/
Lorenzo Prendini: https://www.amnh.org/our-research/staff-directory/lorenzo-prendini/

Solifugae
Paula Cushing: https://www.dmns.org/science/zoology/staff/paula-cushing/
Lorenzo Prendini: https://www.amnh.org/our-research/staff-directory/lorenzo-prendini/
Rodrigo Willemart: http://each.uspnet.usp.br/willemart/?lang=en