Join the Lab

Prospective PhD Students

My students enroll in the PhD program in Environmental Science and Policy, jointly administered by the Abess Center and the Department of Environmental Science and Policy at the University of Miami. Students will also be part of the Earth System Science initiative at the Institute for Data Science and Computing.

Note that students don’t join the lab to work on specific projects. You will have the opportunity to develop your own research projects, so long as they align with our three pillars. Additionally, my PhD students are required to enroll in the PhD Econometrics sequence at the Department of Economics to gain proficiency in causal inference techniques, as well as my Intro to Environmental Data Science class. Students may opt to gain these skills via independent study or to substitute them for other quantitative skills (e.g. machine learning). All students are expected to be/become proficient in at least one scripting language (R / Python), as well as version control via git and GitHub. Your background should be in Environmental Science, Environmental Economics, Geography, Data Science, or related fields.

PhD Positions for Fall ’26

I am recruiting up to two fully funded (5-yrs) PhD students to start in Fall 2026. Prospective students should contact me1 well in advance of the application deadline. Please include your CV and a 1-2 page document (max) describing your past experience in academic research, your research interests, and your motivations for pursuing a PhD.

Undergraduate students

Undergraduate students interested in joining my lab may do so via MSC 411 / 412. Please contact me to inquire about potential opportunities. You should be comfortable working independently in R. A great resource to get you started is the R for Data Science book, as well as my course materials.

Masters Students

  • I don’t actively recruit students to enroll in our Master of Science program unless you are bringing in your own funding. I am happy to work with you in securing your own funding.
  • Students entering the Master of Professional Science (MPS) program don’t typically join a lab. But you may consider reaching out to discuss joining my lab to execute your internship.

Footnotes

  1. email: jc_villasenor@miami.edu↩︎