Dr. Shilva Shrestha’s lab in the Department of Environmental Health and Engineering (EHE) at Johns Hopkins University invites applications for a fully funded Ph.D. position starting in Fall 2025 (preferably starting in Summer 2025). The selected candidate will receive a competitive stipend, full tuition coverage, and health insurance. The student will work with Dr. Shrestha on projects focused on developing anaerobic fermentation technology, specifically using synthetic microbial consortia, for recovering biochemicals and biomaterials from organic waste streams and lignocellulosic biomass. The projects will integrate laboratory experiments and computational biology, where the student will be working actively at the intersection of bioprocess engineering, membrane separation, environmental microbiology, synthetic biology, and metabolic modeling. There will also be opportunities to collaborate with local stakeholders, industry, and other academics, as well as attend and present at national/international conferences. More information about Dr. Shrestha’s lab can be found on the lab website and the department faculty page.
Qualifications:
- B.S. or M.S. degree in environmental engineering, chemical engineering, bioengineering, biotechnology, microbiology, or other closely related field.
- Students with a background or previous research experience in molecular biology, synthetic biology, microbial community analysis, bioinformatics, and/or microbiology are specifically encouraged to apply.
- Proficiency with R, Matlab, Python, or other programming languages is a plus.
- Good scientific writing and communication skills.
Interested students can apply through the JHU Online admission application system by December 1, 2024, and indicate Dr. Shrestha as a potential advisor in the application. In addition, please email the following documents as a single pdf file to Dr. Shrestha at sshres33@jh.edu with “EHE-JHU PhD Application” in the subject line.
- A cover letter describing any relevant research experience, your research interests and career goals, and why you are interested in this position.
- CV (with names and contact information of at least three references).
- Unofficial transcript(s).
The review process will begin on December 2, 2024, and will continue until the position is filled. The shortlisted candidate will be contacted for a Zoom interview.