Dr. Kai Zhu is recruiting 1–2 Ph.D. students starting in Fall 2019 in the Department of Environmental Studies at the University of California, Santa Cruz.
The Zhu Lab works on a broad range of questions in global ecology and quantitative environmental sciences, at the intersection of climate change, biodiversity, and ecosystem processes. Current research projects include large-scale responses to climate change in forests, long-term global change impacts on grasslands, land surface phenology from remote sensing, and soil fungi and trees in changing environments. More information is available at https://zhulab.ucsc.edu/. Students are encouraged to develop their own projects, which is an essential part of their advancement as independent and creative researchers. Dr. Zhu expects students to have previous research experience and some math/statistics and programming skills. However, in the Zhu Lab students will learn new methods and tools by working on projects, so the most important quality is the willingness to learn new skills. The Ph.D. program in Environmental Studies is explicitly interdisciplinary, with expectations to engage in both natural and social sciences coursework and research. The department guarantees five years of stipend and fee support for graduate students. Through working with faculty advisors, graduate students in Environmental Studies have been very successful in obtaining external funding. UC Santa Cruz ranks third worldwide for research impact (https://news.ucsc.edu/2017/09/times-higher-ed.html) and is within a half-hour drive to the Silicon Valley. Located on the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, Santa Cruz has numerous year-round opportunities for outdoor recreation (sailing, surfing, mountain biking, hiking, etc.). For information about program requirements, funding, and admissions, please consult the graduate program coordinator Michael Mangarelli (mmangare at ucsc dot edu), the department website (https://envs.ucsc.edu/graduate/prospective-grads/index.html), and the Graduate School website (https://www.gradadmissions.ucsc.edu). Interested students should contact Dr. Kai Zhu (kai dot zhu at ucsc dot edu) well before the application deadline on December 10, 2018 with the following information: (1) research experience, ideas, and questions; (2) motivations to pursue a Ph.D. and ultimate career goals; (3) interests in the Environmental Studies Department at UCSC; and (4) current CV, academic transcript, GRE score, and TOEFL score (if English is not the first language).
