Seeking an outstanding student to pursue a PhD in the agro-ecology lab at Virginia Tech in the School of Plant and Environmental Sciences. The student will join an interdisciplinary team studying a diversity of ecosystem services impacted by land-use on and around farms. The study system focuses on conventional and organic vegetable farms. Entomology will be the emphasis of research, specifically biological control and pollination. The interdisciplinary team includes researchers and students in fish and wildlife biology and agricultural economics who will work in the same system and will examine land-use and habitat management impacts on bats, birds, deer, and agri-tourism opportunities. Project partners include the Nature Conservancy, the Eastern Shore Land Trust, Cooperative Extension, and the Natural Resources Conservation Service.
Required Qualifications: M.S. in entomology, agro-ecology or closely related field; strong statistical abilities and writing skills; ability to work independently; driver’s license; publication track-record strongly preferred. Responsibilities: The successful candidate must be extremely independent and self-motivated. Summer field work will be based out of the Eastern Shore Agricultural Research and Extension Center (ESAREC) while the main campus for classes is located in Blacksburg, VA. Student will be responsible for designing and conducting pollination and/or biological control field experiments. Skills that will be developed include bee and natural enemy identification, GIS, statistical analyses, and scientific writing. Application Process: Please email your cv, GPA, GRE scores, and a scientific writing sample to [email protected] with the title “PhD Agroecology Application.” If promising, I will then invite you to submit a full application to Virginia Tech http://graduateschool.vt.edu/content/Admissions-applying-virginia-tech by Jan. 15, 2015 for scholarship consideration. Please direct questions to Megan O’Rourke, [email protected]. Start Date: Fall 2016
