PhD student opportunities in Ecology & Conservation at the University of Montana
The lab of Dr. Jedediah Brodie is looking for enthusiastic and talented students for two PhD positions to start in September 2017. Applicants need to be strongly self-motivated but also able to work as a team, and must have substantial experience in ecology or conservation work. Experience with GIS, other spatial analysis, or computer modeling is desirable. The projects are flexible, but will be roughly along these lines: 1) Landscape connectivity for wildlife movement and conservation in the Northern Rocky Mountains. Connectivity between habitat patches has long been known to be important, but an explosion of recent conceptual development is greatly enhancing our ability to understand this critical topic. The general idea of the project is to assess how dispersal across large landscapes can best be maintained for multiple species, and how such dispersal affects species persistence and community structure. The details will be worked out as the student begins the program and takes ownership of the project. We will seek to combine many existing large datasets (e.g. from camera traps, GPS collars, habitat data, citizen science information, etc.) from researchers, NGOs, and government agencies, potentially using and even developing new modeling tools to understand multi-species connectivity. There may be a field work component, dependent on funding and need. 2) Climate change in Alaska. High latitude regions are changing rapidly, and not always in predictable ways. This project will build on work that Dr. Brodie and collaborators have started in Denali, to look at drivers and consequences of large-scale habitat changes such as treeline advance. The project could include some or all of the following factors: (i) experiments to assess the impacts of animal herbivores on tree- and shrub-line change, (ii) drone-based surveys of plant and animal community changes, (iii) modelling of large mammal responses to climate and habitat changes using existing data from federal collaborators, and (iv) other aspects developed by the student. Substantial field work and camping experience is required for this position, ideally from remote, difficult, and dangerous settings. Experience in Alaska, specifically, is highly desirable. These positions could be based in either Biological Sciences (http://hs.umt.edu/dbs/) or the Wildlife Biology Program (http://www.cfc.umt.edu/wbio/), depending on funding sources and the student’s background and career goals. Funding for these projects will come from a combination of teaching assistantships, research assistantships, and grants led by the student (but with help on the application from Dr. Brodie). How to apply Send an email to [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>, with “PhD position application” (no quotes) in the subject line, by 1 November 2016. Include as attachments: (1) A 1-2 page cover letter stating which project you’re interested in, explaining why you’re interested in and prepared for that position, and listing your undergrad and/or MSc institution and GPA, your GRE scores, names & contact info for 3 references, and your TOEFL score if applicable. Do not send transcripts, reference letters, or other materials at this time. (2) Your CV. If we receive many applications, we might not be able to acknowledge receipt of them all, but we thank you in advance for your interest! About the program The University of Montana (UM) is a top research university set amidst the wilderness and wildlife of the Northern Rocky Mountains. Both the Organismal Biology & Ecology Program (within the Division of Biological Sciences) and the Wildlife Biology Program have been recognized as Programs of National Distinction. The Wildlife Biology Program was recently ranked the Number 1 wildlife program in North America by Academic Analytics. When normalized for faculty size, UM was ranked Number 1 in the field of Ecology out of 300 North American research universities this year, and was ranked Number 1 in the field of Conservation Biology in a paper published in 2007. Students at UM are also exposed to collaborations with numerous federal and state resource agencies, NGOs, and other researchers across the region and around the world.
