Anticipated Start Date: Fall 2026.The review of the application begins immediately. Position Overview The Department of Animal Sciences at the University of Arkansas invites applications for a fully funded PhD position under the mentorship of Dr. Aranyak Goswami. The successful candidate will work at the intersection of precision medicine and animal health, developing computational pipelines to integrate host genetics with multi-omic data to identify novel biomarkers and causal disease relationships. Required Qualifications Education: A Master’s degree in Bioinformatics, Computational Biology, Genetics, Molecular Biology, or a related quantitative field. Academic Standing: A U.S. Master’s degree with a minimum GPA of 3.5. Standardized Testing: Valid GRE and/or SAT scores. Visa Status: Applicants must currently reside in the USA with a valid student visa (F-1/J-1). This is a mandatory requirement for this recruitment cycle. Desired Skills & Responsibilities Statistical Genomics: Ability to execute Microbiome Genome-Wide Association Studies (mGWAS) and apply population genetics approaches, including Heritability Estimation (e.g., GREML) and Genetic Correlation analysis. Causal Inference: Familiarity with Mendelian Randomization (MR) to establish causal links between biological profiles and host phenotypes. Programming & Environment: Fluency in Python and R for statistical modeling and model development within a Linux/Unix environment. Data Engineering: Proficiency in managing end-to-end ETL processes, data wrangling, and cleaning of large-scale genomic datasets. Preferred Qualifications Sequencing Expertise: Hands-on experience processing and analyzing Shotgun Metagenomic, 16S rRNA sequencing, and Bulk-scale RNA sequencing data. Advanced ML Experience: Prior experience building and optimizing deep learning models, specifically generative architectures (VAEs) or attention-based models (e.g., TabNet), for high-dimensional biological data. Predictive Modeling: Experience with Polygenic Risk Score (PRS) assessment and validation. HPC Experience: Experience managing large-scale workflows on High-Performance Computing (HPC) clusters. About the Lab As a PhD student in Dr. Goswami’s lab, you will have access to world-class computational resources, including the Pinnacle Supercluster (featuring dedicated V100 GPU nodes). This position offers a highly collaborative environment with opportunities to bridge theoretical data science with real-world biological applications.

How to Apply Interested candidates should submit their CV, academic transcripts, test scores, and a brief statement of research interests and contact details for three references to Dr. Aranyak Goswami at [garanyak@uark.edu]. Subject Line: Fall 2026 PhD Application - Animal Sciences