Ph. D. position with Jeff Houlahan's lab in the Department of Biological Sciences/The Canadian Rivers Institute, University of New Brunswick Saint John (UNB Saint John).
The Houlahan lab is looking for a Ph.D. student interested in fundamental questions in population and/or community ecology to begin in the fall of 2017 (although later start dates could be negotiated). We are happy to hear from students with a wide range of interests - some examples of topics include (i) the relationship between diversity and stability, (ii) the relative importance of density dependent effects on population dynamics, and (iii) the stability of competitive hierarchies in nature but we are less concerned about the question than the approach. The approach would involve developing theoretical and/or statistical models that would then be tested on new data (see Houlahan et al. 2017 in Oikos) to assess the predictive ability of those models and how predictive ability changes over time and space. The successful applicant will have strong quantitative skills, and more particularly, be somebody who is comfortable analyzing data and modeling in something like R or Python. Students will have an opportunity to improve their analytical and modeling skills, become better grounded in basic ecology theory, and improve writing, logical thinking and problem-solving abilities. We are interested in ecology, environmental science, computer science and/or mathematics students. Funding of at least $21,000/year is guaranteed for 4 years and comes from TA'ships, RA'ships and scholarships. The University of New Brunswick is a comprehensive university with campuses in Saint John and Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada with approximately 10,000 students. The Houlahan lab is part of the Department of Biological Sciences and The Canadian Rivers Institute at the Saint John campus. This is a vibrant department with a focus on aquatic and marine biology and more than 50 graduate students. Saint John is a small (pop - 68,000) attractive, coastal city in southern New Brunswick. If you are interested in the position drop me a note at [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> and attach your cv, transcripts (unofficial or official) and 3 references with contact info. Expiry date: July 1, 2017.
