Opportunity for the Fall 2012 M.S. Environmental Science program at Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA. Financial support is through an academic-year teaching assistantship, which includes partial tuition & fee waiver. Teaching assistants help in a broad range of environmental science courses and are assigned diverse responsibilities.
Thesis research will focus on effects of wildfire on soil chemistry. The 2002 Biscuit Wildfire burned 200,000 ha of Oregon forest, including a previously established Long-term Ecosystem Productivity site. Comparison of soil samples taken before and after the fire have documented substantial losses of soil C and N, with the variation in losses related to prefire forest management (P.S. Homann et al. 2011. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J 75:1926-1934; B.T. Bormann et al. 2008. Can J. For. Res. 38:2771- 2783). The thesis project will investigate soil properties other than C and N, using a soil archive consisting of soil samples taken before the fire, 1 year after the fire, and 8 years after the fire. Knowledge of soils and experience in laboratory methods are assets for this project. For graduate program description and admissions information, see http://www.wwu.edu/huxley/students/prospective-graduates.shtml http://www.wwu.edu/huxley/students/gradprograms.shtml#environmental For teaching assistantship stipend and tuition & fee expenses for “full- time” TA, see http://www.wwu.edu/depts/gradschool/funding/graduate_assistantships_stipend _waiver_FAQ.shtml http://www.wwu.edu/depts/gradschool/pdfs/TA_WAV_for_web_072811.pdf Application deadline: February 1. Please address questions about this opportunity to Peter Homann, Professor of Environmental Sciences Western Washington University Bellingham WA 98225-9181 Email: [email protected] Website: http://faculty.wwu.edu/homann/
