Prospective Graduate Students:

Ken Dial and the Flight Lab

Each year I review potential graduate candidates from the numerous applications submitted to the Division of Biological Sciences at the University of Montana.  I will always consider accepting new students that share my passion for understanding patterns of animal design, evolution, ecology, behavior, life history theory, and biomechanics.  However, on average, I select only one new student each year.  I encourage students that enter our program to develop several rigorous laboratory-focused studies (e.g., in biomechanics, neuromuscular control, kinematics, animation, respirometry, etc.) that will lay the foundation for a complementary field study.  As a part of a comprehensive and integrative educational experience, I believe students should be willing to learn new techniques (e.g., surgical implantation skills, use of miniature biomechanical devices, electrophysiological recording systems, high-speed filming, telemetry, etc.) and embrace the behavioral ecology and natural history of their study subjects.

Most students that enter our lab are also accepted by the most prestigious institutions in the world.  Therefore, a promise I make to any student that enters our Flight Lab is that when they graduate from UM they will be as competitive during their job search as anyone trained elsewhere.  Although we cannot compete with certain institutions regarding stipends and shelved library resources, the University of Montana possesses a suite of unique resources (e.g., the greatest expanse of designated wilderness in the continental US, a group of graduate students with extraordinary field experience, a research faculty in avian biology second to none, state-of-the-art research facilities (i.e., UM Field Station at Fort Missoula with large and small aviaries, surgical suite, indoor flight lab, a wind tunnel, biomechanical recording equipment) and, by the way, the best skiing, fly-fishing, mountain biking, and micro-beers in the nation.  I could have moved elsewhere over the years, however, Missoula is seductive with its gorgeous surroundings and healthy lifestyle.

We are very proud of our track record regarding graduates from our department.  Essentially all of my students have gone on to become university, tenured professors or continued their schooling to receive a PhD degree if they were a master’s student.  I do not maintain a large lab; rather I run an intimate, productive, and energized research group where we assist in our experiments push each other to excel.

Current and future research involves studying fledging birds in locations all over the world (Venezuela, Africa, Australia, New Zealand, North America) as the young develop locomotor abilities.  This is a collaborative project involving four other PI’s from genetics, physiology, locomotion, behavioral ecology, and life history theory.

We will continue to study the origin and evolution of flight and also the behavioral ecology of birds based on allometric scaling phenomena.

If you are interested in our lab please submit applications early (by mid-January) and contact me personally so that I will look specifically for your folder.