The Alabama Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit is seeking two motivated and quantitatively inclined students interested in pursuing a PhD. in wildlife sciences at Auburn University. This research is part of the USGS Southeast Regional Assessment Project (http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2010/1213/), a multidisciplinary, landscape scale initiative involving multiple universities and institutions. The selectees will conduct research to support the development of decision tools for evaluating conservation strategies under competing models of climate change and response by aquatic and terrestrial wildlife populations. The selected students will be expected to participate in stakeholder workshops based on the principles of structured decision making to formulate research problems that use state-of-the-art techniques in estimation and modeling to inform conservation decisions in an adaptive management framework.
B.S. required (M.S. heavily preferred) in wildlife biology, conservation biology, ecology, biometrics, or a related field. Knowledge of statistics, optimization tools, population modeling, methods of measuring uncertainty and decision theory are desirable. Ability to program in R, MATLAB or an equivalent language is also desirable. We will consider applicants with a desire and an aptitude for developing these skills. The candidates must demonstrate commitment to publication of results in peer-reviewed outlets, and strong potential to work collaboratively with multiple researchers on a highly visible topic. Starts January 6, 2011 Stipend: $18,180 + tuition waiver To apply: Email cover letter, resume, copies of transcripts and GRE scores, and contact information for 3 professional references to James B. Grand ([email protected]) or Max Post van der Burg ([email protected]).
