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How to Join

In the Hekstra Lab, we are committed to fostering diversity, inclusion, and belonging.  We seek to help in dismantling systemic barriers to entry for groups historically underrepresented in science.

If you're interested in joining the lab, or just in learning more, don't hesitate to reach out with a short message about your interest in our work on either electric-field stimulated crystallography or microbial physiology. And if you don't hear back, don't hesitate to send a follow-up!  For interested undergraduates, postdocs, or research assistants, there is no formal application process beyond a simple email (with the slight exception of some undergraduate summer research programs; information about that will be added here as appropriate.) Read on for specific information about joining our group as a graduate student.

Graduate Students

Harvard's Ph.D. programs are designed such that a student in essentially any biology, chemistry, physics, or engineering program would have the opportunity to join our lab. That said, we typically take students from the graduate programs below.

  • The following four programs are among the fourteen that comprise the Harvard Integrated Life Sciences (HILS) umbrella:
    • Molecules, Cells and Organisms (MCO): The MCO program provides students with a broad background in all areas of modern biology. MCO is housed in the department of Molecular and Cellular Biology (MCB), but also includes faculty from the departments of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology, Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, and Physics.
    • Chemical Biology (CB):  The CB program helps students use tools derived from chemistry to devise novel approaches to important biological and medical problems. CB links faculty on Harvard's Cambridge campus, Longwood (Medical) campus, and the Broad Institute.
    • Chemistry and Chemical Biology (CCB): The CCB program offers research and training opportunities in many subdisciplines of chemistry, including chemical biology, inorganic, organic, physical, and theoretical. CCB is housed on Harvard's Cambridge campus in the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology.
    • Biophysics: The Biophysics program is focused on addressing outstanding problems at the interface of the biological and physical sciences. This program includes a wide range of faculty in various departments across Harvard's Cambridge and Longwood (Medical) campuses.
  • Applied Physics: Students in the Applied Physics program work at the intersection of physics and engineering to study complex systems, including living organisms. The Applied Physics program is part of the School of Engineering and Applied Science (SEAS).