Spend Summer 2013 at the University of Tennessee Knoxville. Be an ecological modeler!
UPDATE: Due to some confusion regarding the original wording of the ad, we would like to emphasize that this is not a field position. We are looking for an undergraduate student for paid summer research. The position pays a biweekly stipend of $1,000 for 8 weeks (June 10 – Aug 2). Our Research: We want to know what happens when interacting species see their worlds at different spatial scales. You can think of hawks and mice to illustrate this general concept. Hawks have large ranges and mice very small. And hawks eat mice. On its own, we expect to find each species spatially distributed in a way that reflects the scale at which it lives. But when we consider interacting species, we expect the spatial distribution of each species to respond to processes at both scales. Cross-scale interactions are not limited to just hawks and mice, so we have written a computational model to explore how scale disparities affect interacting species in general. We are particularly interested in how scale-disparate interactions affect the way that each species responds to variation in the environment. We also want to know how such interactions cause species' distributions to differ from patterns in the environment on which they depend. The successful applicant will use our model as a starting point to expand the model to address a related ecological question. More info and project ideas at https://sites.google.com/site/latticesreu2013/ Qualified applicants will be current undergraduate students (not graduating before summer 2013) in biology, computer science or mathematics. Computer programming experience is helpful, but not required. An interest in ecological modeling is necessary! Please note that we are not able to support field research projects. Apply by March 31, 2013. We will continue to accept applications until the position is filled. Visit our website ( https://sites.google.com/site/latticesreu2013/) for more information and to apply. Direct questions to Christine Dumoulin ([email protected]). This REU is made possible through grant no. 0801540 from the National Science Foundation for an IGERT program called SCALE-IT ("Scalable Computing and Leading Edge Innovative Technologies", http://web.utk.edu/~scaleit/).
