We seek a MS or PhD student to be engaged in new interdisciplinary research that investigates the potential role of Working Lands to be integrated into conservation strategies for endangered butterflies in South Sound Prairies in Washington. Likely project(s) to involve field work to assess existing butterfly communities across a diversity of grazing management, and the value of native prairies for butterflies and grazers. The new project is a collaborative project with faculty in School of Biological Sciences and College of Agriculture, Human and Natural Resource Sciences as well as biologists from agencies and private landowners.
Research in the Conservation Biology Lab at WSU Vancouver focuses on understanding the ecology of at-risk species to develop effective conservation and restoration programs. Our work is with a population ecology lens and largely relates to rare butterflies and their prairie habitats in the Pacific Northwest. Please website for overview of lab research approach, list of publications, and letter to prospective graduate students at http://research.vancouver.wsu.edu/cheryl-schultz Washington State University Vancouver is a new campus in the WSU system located in Southwest Washington just across the Columbia River from Portland, Oregon and is close to Willamette Valley and South Puget Sound prairies. Currently with ~3000 students, it is a new and rapidly growing campus in the WSU system. Students benefit from outstanding faculty, world-class research, state- of-the-art facilities and small class sizes. http://cas.vancouver.wsu.edu/science-graduate- programs/ Interested students should look at the Letter to Prospective Graduate Students and send a CV/resume, transcripts and a letter describing past research experience and future research interests to Cheryl Schultz, [email protected]. Graduate applications receive priority consideration if received by January 10, 2015 for Fall 2015 admission. I encourage all interested students to get in touch to learn more about the program and research in our lab. Also please note that while an admitted graduate student will formally matriculate in Fall 2015, we anticipate beginning key phases of the project in Spring 2015 and expect to hire the accepted graduate student as part of our field team in Spring and Summer 2015 to be engaged and on-the-ground during the initial stages of the project. Please indicate your interest and availability to begin as early as April 2015 in your cover letter.
