The lab is in the heart of one of the great American cities, "Stormy, husky, brawling / City of the Big Shoulders". Students and postdocs can live in any number of urban neighborhoods connected directly to the University by public transportation. For example, there is a Blue Line train stop (CTA) a couple of minutes' walk from our building. As a generally happening place, which transformed away from its reputation for crime (the Prohibition and Crack Wars, for example), Chicago managed to avoid the path of complete and mostly irreversible decline followed by other American cities (with the exception of New York and San Francisco, among the few).

Consequently, otherwise hard-working lab members will be able to enjoy world-class concerts, theaters, opera, symphony, ground-breaking architecture, neighborhood bars, and public art. Chicago is home to the Second City comedy club, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Museum of Contemporary Art, a vibrant gallery scene, the DIY craft nerds at Renegade Handmade & Renegade Fair, Jay Ryan, the Chicago Symphony, Lyric Opera, WBEZ (This American Life, Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me, Sound Opinions, Eight Forty-Eight, from which the below sound clip originates), the current President of the United States, Nelson Algren, Carl Sandburg, Studs Terkel, Mike Royko, Curtis Mayfield, Wilco, Andrew Bird, Pitchfork, Lollapalooza Music Festival, Kanye West, Common, Da Bulls, Da Bears, Da Sox, and the Cubs, Mike Ditka, Steppenwolf Theater Company, John Malkovich, the Chicago Pizza and Hot Dog (a.k.a. "the Depression sandwich"). OMG, you can go to Hot Doug's. Some of the sweetest neighborhoods in the city, like Pilsen, Ukrainian Village, Wicker Park, and Logan Square, are all a short CTA ride away. Even our cemeteries are amazing! For example, take a bike down to the Oak Woods Cemetery, the resting place to Jesse Owens, Harold Washington, Enrico Fermi, and Robert Johnson. There are also several schools in the immediate area (e.g. UIC, Northwestern, DePaul, University of Chicago, Loyola, Columbia College, The School of the Art Institute, and many city colleges), and a great many other terrific people and institutions.

Don't let me convince you; listen to Norman Mailer (Miami and the Siege of Chicago).

The Chicago Public Library hosts frequent literary events, that have recently included the likes of Salman Rushdie, Michael Chabon, Naomi Wolf, Jonathan Safran Foer, Michael Pollan, and Sarah Vowell. And Granta, a terrific literary magazine, dedicated its Fall issue to Chicago writers. A part of the week-long series of events took place at Rainbo Club, and included Boris' compatriot and writer, Aleksandar Hemon. [past events]

Now That You Are Interested in Moving Here...

Graduate student and postdoc applicants interested in any number of areas in evolutionary biology and ecology should email Boris after browsing around these webpages. We are interested in cultivating a lab that features interesting people with diverse ethnic and scholarly backgrounds, but all applicants should have a strong background in evolutionary biology or otherwise be outstandingly quantitatively gifted.

The lab (see photos) is equipped for field, greenhouse, computational, and molecular research (e.g. common garden/reciprocal transplant experiments, PCR-based methods, marker discovery, cloning, transformations, phylogenetics).

There are a number of questions/ideas floating around for those who wish to join the lab, but those wishing to take on independent projects are equally welcomed. These projects should have something (however peripheral) to do with our areas of interest. In addition, you may wish to contact other faculty with similar interests at UIC, the Chicago Botanic Gardens, and especially the Field Museum of Natural History (Rick Ree and Michael Dillon, for example).

Graduate Students

If you are eligible to apply and reading this page, you clearly should! I will begin interviewing graduate students this winter (2006/2007). If you are admitted into the program, I will refund your application fee. Students will be interviewed this fall for the next academic year. You can find out more information about applying by visiting our graduate admissions webpages.

Postdocs

As a recent postdoc, I have some fresh experience with the miserable process of finding the right lab, given the financial, lifestyle, and intellectual constraints that it often presents. If you are independently supported, you are obviously strongly encouraged to send me an email and see if this lab is right for you. Postdoc availability will depend on reception of NSF funds from active submissions (don't hold your breath).