SUMMARY: A graduate assistant position at the M.S. or PhD level is available within the College of Forestry and Conservation at the University of Montana to explore climatic drivers of seedling establishment and regeneration failure in low elevation forests of the western US. The project will employ greenhouse experiments, models of plant hydraulics, broad-scale forest inventory data, and weather simulations, to understand processes that drive spatial and temporal variation in seedling mortality. The successful applicant will work as part of a team of researchers including, a plant physiologist, an ecohydrologist, an applied mathematician, and a landscape ecologist. The start date is flexible but we anticipate the candidate leading fieldwork in the Spring of 2016.
DESIRED QUALIFICATIONS: demonstrated commitment to basic research, experience leading fieldwork in forest systems, experience analyzing spatial datasets, demonstrated ability to publish peer-reviewed papers, effective written and oral communication skills, modeling experience in statistics, hydrology, micrometeorology, or forest ecology. Desired skills include: programming in R, Matlab, or Python. TO APPLY: In a single pdf document, please send: 1) a CV; 2) a short statement of your research interests; 3) unofficial transcripts; and 4) GRE scores to Solomon Dobrowski ([email protected]). UNIVERSITY AND COMMUNITY: The University of Montana’s College of Forestry and Conservation is one of the nation’s top natural resource institutions. The College’s faculty and students conduct basic and applied research in a wide range of natural resource disciplines, and have ready access to Montana’s extensive wild and working lands for natural laboratories and recreational opportunities. The City of Missoula (population approx. 70,000) is regularly featured as one of the most livable cities in the United States.
