Prospective Lab Members: General Information
Looking toward the next step in your career?
The paleontology program jointly supported by North Carolina State University (an R-1 institution) and the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences (the largest natural history museum in the southeastern United States) is an outstanding choice. Our cross-institutional program combines rigorous training in frontier research methods and high-caliber teaching with visionary science communication and public engagement. The program produces early-career researchers with a rare combination of academic skills—the acumen to conduct science to the highest standards and an appreciation for the value of sharing their science with society.
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At NC State, we work with undergraduate students enrolled in the Paleontology Minor.
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Students working toward graduate degrees are accepted only through the Biology Graduate Program at North Carolina State University and are considered resident graduate students at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences.
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Postdoctoral researchers in the ZannoLab also enjoy joint affiliations at North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences and North Carolina State University. ​​​​
Prospective Graduate Students
I accept students interested in completing MS and PhD degrees in vertebrate paleontology.
If you are an advanced undergraduate student intending to apply to graduate programs in paleontology for an MS degree, I recommend pursuing research opportunities with faculty before applying to graduate programs. This is to ensure a graduate program is the right next step for you. However, if you have not had the opportunity to engage in research, this is not a barrier to admission. Please note, outside of rare circumstances (demonstrable publication experience), I only accept doctoral students who have already completed a Master's Degree.​
What you need to do: Students interested in pursuing a degree should email a copy of their c.v., the names of three references, and a paragraph describing their research interests to lezanno@nscu.edu before filling out the application for graduate acceptance on the NCSU website. If you appear to be a good fit for the lab I will arrange a phone call and encourage you to submit a formal application. Be aware that the graduate program at NCSU requires a minimum 3.0 GPA for acceptance. Admittance to the lab is highly competitive (< 5% acceptance rate) but is not based solely on academic achievement and prospective applicants with diverse experiences should not feel discouraged from applying.
Timeline: I do not begin reviewing and interviewing interested graduate applicants until December. Please do not send emails of interest until after Thanksgiving. Students who have contacted me in the preceding summer or early in the fall semester will not hear back as I am often traveling through the summer and fall.​
Expectations: Incoming students that have not already applied for or received an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship are expected to do so within the first year of graduate work.
Prospective Postdoctoral Researchers
Prospective postdoctoral researchers should contact me to arrange a one-on-one conversation and be prepared to outline a postdoctoral project in writing.
Prospective postdoctoral researchers should also plan on applying to the NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship program in Biology (November annually) or Earth Sciences (July annually).​
Zanno & Gates Labs, SVP 2024