Utah State University: Fully funded PhD Assistantship – Animal space-use behavior and demography (joint supervision by Dr. Dan MacNulty and Dr. Tal Avgar).
The successful applicant will advance understanding about the demographic consequences of space-use behavior in free-living large- vertebrate systems. Research will focus on the northern Yellowstone elk population, which migrates annually to summer ranges throughout Yellowstone National Park. The successful applicant will examine how elk movement and resource-selection varies with elk density, resource availability, and predation risk (from wolves, grizzly bears, and cougars), and how these individual space-use behaviors affect survival and reproduction. Research will be conducted in collaboration with agency scientists and will involve cutting-edge analyses of several long-term datasets as well as field work in Yellowstone. Desired start date: August 27, 2018. The assistantship includes tuition and fees, health insurance, travel stipend, and a yearly stipend of $20k for up to four years. The candidate will be expected to apply for additional funding such as the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship and S. J. and Jesse E. Quinney Doctoral Research Fellowship. Minimum qualifications: MSc in ecology, wildlife biology, conservation biology, or related field; GRE scores (for both verbal and quantitative) ≥70th percentile and cumulative GPA ≥3.50. Competitive applicants will have experience collecting, analyzing, presenting, and publishing field data, working collaboratively with agency and academic scientists, and strong interests in developing and applying quantitative models of animal space-use behavior, predator-prey interactions, and demography. Applicants should email the following materials as a single pdf file with the subject line “PhD Assistantship” to dan.macnu...@usu.edu AND avg...@gmail.com: (a) one page cover letter describing relevant experience, interests, and professional goals, (b) CV, (c) GRE scores, (d) transcripts (unofficial) from undergraduate and graduate education, (f) scientific writing sample (an academic paper or report written primarily by the applicant), and (e) contact information for three professional references. Consideration of interested applicants begins immediately and continues until the position is filled. Utah State University (http://www.usu.edu) is a Research I (Extensive Doctoral) land-grant institution with a student body of over 24,000, 42 departments, 8 academic colleges, a school of Graduate Studies, and diverse research programs. The main campus is located in Logan, a community of 100,000 people. Logan is 85 miles north of Salt Lake City in scenic Cache Valley, a semi-rural mountain basin with nearby ski resorts, lakes, rivers, and mountains providing many recreational opportunities. The area has a low cost of living and provides a high quality of life. For more information on Logan see http://www.tourcachevalley.com.
