Utah State University: Fully funded PhD Assistantship – Animal space-use
behavior and demography (joint supervision by Dr. Dan MacNulty and Dr.
Tal Avgar). The successful applicant will advance understanding about
the demographic consequences of space-use behavior in free-living large
vertebrates. Research will focus on the northern Yellowstone elk
population, which migrates annually to summer ranges throughout
Yellowstone National Park. The successful applicant will examine how elk
movement and resource-selection varies with elk density, resource
availability, and predation risk (from wolves, grizzly bears, and
cougars), and how these individual space-use behaviors affect survival
and reproduction. Research will be conducted in collaboration with
agency scientists and will involve cutting-edge analyses of several
long-term datasets as well as field work in Yellowstone. Desired start
date: January 7, 2019. A later start date is possible. The assistantship
includes tuition and fees, health insurance, travel stipend, and a
yearly stipend of $20k for up to four years. The candidate will be
expected to apply for additional funding such as the NSF Graduate
Research Fellowship and S. J. and Jesse E. Quinney Doctoral Research
Fellowship. Minimum qualifications: MSc in ecology, wildlife biology,
conservation biology, or related field; GRE scores (for both verbal and
quantitative) ≥70th percentile and cumulative GPA ≥3.50.
Competitive
applicants will have experience collecting, analyzing, presenting, and
publishing field data, working collaboratively with agency and academic
scientists, and strong interests in developing and applying quantitative
models of animal space-use behavior, predator-prey interactions, and
demography. Applicants should email the following materials as a single
pdf file with the subject line “PhD Assistantship” to
[email protected] AND [email protected]: (a) one page cover letter
describing relevant experience, interests, and professional goals, (b)
CV, (c) GRE scores, (d) transcripts (unofficial) from undergraduate and
graduate education, (f) scientific writing sample (an academic paper or
report written primarily by the applicant), and (e) contact information
for three professional references. Consideration of interested
applicants begins immediately and continues until the position is
filled. Application deadline: November 1, 2018.
Utah State University (http://www.usu.edu) is a Research I (Extensive
Doctoral) land-grant institution with a student body of over 24,000, 42
departments, 8 academic colleges, a school of Graduate Studies, and
diverse research programs. The main campus is located in Logan, a
community of 100,000 people. Logan is 85 miles north of Salt Lake City
in scenic Cache Valley, a semi-rural mountain basin with nearby ski
resorts, lakes, rivers, and mountains providing many recreational
opportunities. The area has a low cost of living and provides a high
quality of life. For more information on Logan see
http://www.tourcachevalley.com.
