*NSF – Research Experience for Undergraduates Opportunity*
The Sala Lab at Arizona State University is looking for motivated undergraduate students to participate in research activities in grassland ecosystem ecology during the summer of 2017. The participant will work with graduate students, technicians and postdocs to assist with ongoing rainfall manipulation experiments, vegetation and soil sampling, and other field surveys at several field sites across the US. Additionally, participants have the opportunity to work with Sala Lab members and the PI to develop a personalized project. Activities will primarily be based at either the Jornada basin (Las Cruces, NM) or Konza Prairie (Manhattan, KS) with possible field trips (1-2 weeks in duration) between these sites and our third location, the Semi-arid Grasslands Research Center (north of Fort Collins, CO). The successful applicants are awarded a stipend, which includes cost of travel, lodging, and food. *About the Jornada* The Jornada Basin Long Term Ecological Research Program is focused on the ecology of drylands in the southwest USA, including the causes and consequences of alternative ecosystem states and the expansion of woody plants into grasslands resulting in more “desert like” conditions. By conducting long-term precipitation manipulation experiments, we are interested in how long-term changes to precipitation amount and variability affect ecosystem functioning. More information on the LTER is available at https://jornada.nmsu.edu/lter *About Konza Prairie* The Konza Prairie LTER is centered on one of the most productive grasslands in North America – the tallgrass prairie. The Konza LTER program has focused on fire, grazing, and climatic variability as three critical and interactive drivers that affect ecological patterns and processes in grasslands worldwide. In the context of the Sala Lab, Konza Prairie is one site across a precipitation gradient where we specifically address how changes to precipitation affect above versus belowground primary production. We also ask what mechanisms, such as plant allocation or belowground herbivory, may be driving plant responses to precipitation change. More information on the LTER is available at http://www.konza.ksu.edu/knz/pages/home/home.aspx *Eligibility* Undergraduate student participants supported with NSF funds in either REU Supplements or REU Sites must be U.S. citizens, U.S. nationals, or permanent residents of the United States. An undergraduate student is a student who is enrolled in a degree program (part-time or full-time) leading to a baccalaureate or associate degree. *Prior Fieldwork Experience required.* *How to apply* Applications are evaluated upon submission, and positions will be filled as long as funding is available. Please send application materials to the Sala Lab postdoc Dr. Laureano Gherardi (e-mail: [email protected]) by *April 14, 2017*. *Application materials must include:* Cover Letter Resume or CV Unofficial undergraduate transcript Laureano A. Gherardi PhD Sala Lab <http://sala.lab.asu.edu/people/> LSA 217A School of Life Sciences <https://sols.asu.edu/> Arizona State University PO Box 874501 Tempe, AZ, 85287-4501 1+(480) 727-3726 My Research Gate <https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Laureano_Gherardi/?ev=hdr_xprf> My Google Scholar <https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=GH72YJ8AAAAJ&hl=en>
