Review of applications will begin March 28th and will continue until a suitable applicant is selected.
We are recruiting a MS student for the fall of 2014 to study risk of
collision between boats and marine mammals. The student would join
the department of Wildlife Ecology and Conservation at the University
of Florida, and would be co-advised by Dr. Julien Martin (Research
Scientist, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC))
and Dr. Robert Fletcher (Associate Professor, University of Florida).
This partnership between the University of Florida and FWC provides a
unique opportunity for a student interested in contributing to the
integration of science and management. The student will spend time at
both the University of Florida in Gainesville and the Florida Fish
and Wildlife Research Institute in St Petersburg, FL.
The student would contribute to the development of a quantitative
decision support tool to link the effects of potential management
actions on 2 species of endangered marine mammals: manatees and North
Atlantic right whales. Examples of analyses include: (1) statistical
modeling (including spatial analysis) using Bayesian methods; (2)
matrix population modeling. In addition to being technically
challenging, this project could have useful policy implications for
management. Existing datasets available for analysis include: spatial
databases of vessel traffic, GPS and radio telemetry data of
manatees, time-depth recorders, capture mark recapture information,
and aerial survey data of whales and manatees.
Qualifications: We are looking for students who are interested in
building an expertise in quantitative ecology and decision making for
conservation. Candidates with some knowledge of programming such as:
R, MATLAB, Scilab, or Python will be given preference. Knowledge of
Geographic Information System software (e.g., ArcGIS) desired, but
not required.
Please, also check admission requirements
at:<http://graduateschool.ufl.edu/admission/requirements-for-all-applicants>http://graduateschool.ufl.edu/admission/requirements-for-all-applicants
Stipend and benefits: The successful applicant will receive two years
of research assistantship stipend ($19,660/year), tuition waiver
(~$11,400/year), and fringe benefits including health insurance.
Funds are also available for the student to participate at a
scientific conference.
To apply: Please submit a letter of interest, CV, transcripts and GRE
scores, and the contact of three references to: Julien Martin:
[email protected]
