Categories
Assistantships

Environmental Graduate Funding Update – 38 Assistantships

Below find the latest graduate assistantships and other funding opportunities posted across the web in the last week in ecology, conservation and related environmental fields.

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Master’s Opportunities

MSc Graduate Research Assistantship: AU Shellfish Lab
Auburn University | Auburn, AL
Program: Fisheries – MS
Conduct research on improving Eastern oyster (Crassostrea virginica) crop inventory and farm management through the practical integration of RFID technology in shellfish aquaculture.

Graduate Research Assistants (2): Alabama Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit
Auburn University | Auburn, AL
Program: Fisheries – MS
Develop a thesis that provides extensive information on the distribution, habitat use, and demographics of invasive carp and native fishes of the lower Mississippi River

MSc Assistantship: Mesocarnivore Movement – Cal Poly, SLO
California Polytechnic State University | San Luis Obispo, CA
Program: Biological Sciences – MS
Work on a mesocarnivore movement study involving coyote-sheep interactions in and around San Luis Obispo, CA in fall, 2021.

MS Assistantships (3): Fisheries Conservation Genetics
Humboldt State University | Arcata, CA
Program: Natural Resources – MS
Apply genetic approaches to fish conservation and management, including:
1. quantification of the variability of Ceratonova shasta DNA concentrations in Klamath River water samples.
2. monitoring coho salmon at local-scales in northern California streams using environmental DNA.
3. using genomics to elucidate local adaptation among isolated populations of the endangered tidewater goby.

MS Assistantships (3): Ecology and Evolution of Fall Webworm
University of Denver | Denver, CO
Georgetown University | Washington, DC
University of Massachusetts | Amherst, MA
Program: Biological Sciences – MS, PhD
Study ecology and evolution of diet breadth of a generalist caterpillar, fall webworm. Examine how bottom-up and top-down selective pressures affect the diet breadth of a generalist insect; the research will involve both field and lab work.

MS Graduate Opportunity: Microbial Ecology of Terrestrial-Aquatic Linkages
University of Georgia | Athens, GA
Program: Ecology – MS
Work on the microbial ecology of terrestrial-aquatic linkages at University of Georgia’s Savannah River Ecology Laboratory in Aiken, SC.

MS Position: Aquatic Biogeochemistry
Louisiana State University | Baton Rouge, LA
Program: Environmental Sciences – MS
Work on carbon transport and transformation in aquatic systems. The research involves field sampling of the Mississippi River and an urban lake with a research focus on biogeochemical cycling of carbon, especially CO2 outgassing.

Graduate Assistant: USM Gulf Coast Research Labratory
The University of Southern Mississippi | Hattiesburg, MS
Program: Marine Science – MS
Study the recruitment, growth, and health of oysters in Mississippi Sound as part of a large restoration program following the 2019 mass mortality due to the opening of the Bonnet Carré spillway.

Research Technician: MO Cooperative F & W Research Unit
University of Missouri | Columbia, MO
Program: Natural Resources – MS
Assist with the collection of telemetry and other data for Striped Bass and other fish species in Bull Shoals Lake.

MS Position: Social Network Analysis and Ecology of Bats
New Mexico State University | Las Cruces, NM
Program: Fish, Wildlife & Conservation Ecology – MS
investigating the effects of animal movement and social behavior on disease dynamics, with a focus on bats and SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.

MS Positions: Environmental Science
University of Tennessee at Chattanooga | Chattanooga, TN
Program: Environmental Science – MS
For students wanting to gain experience in the fields of environmental science, biology, geoscience, and natural resources. The non-thesis is designed for students who wish to enhance their professional degree skills.

MS Assistantship: Artificial Reef Research
University of Texas Rio Grande Valley | Edinburg, TX
Program: Ocean, Coastal, and Earth Science – MS
Investigate juvenile fish use of artificial reefs via ROV surveys and visual observations on SCUBA.

MS position in Thornforest Restoration & Seedling Ecophysiology
University of Texas Rio Grande Valley | Edinburg, TX
Program: Biology – MS
Evaluate conditioning pretreatments to minimize the transplant shock and improve initial field performance of thornforest seedlings.

MS Position: Genomics and Evolutionary Biology
Texas Christian University | Fort Worth, TX
Program:Biology – MS
monitoring the effects of hatchery rearing on genome-wide variation in Chinook Salmon, with a particular focus on the effects of domestication selection.

MSc Position: Human Dimensions of Wildlife
University of Texas at San Antonio | San Antonio, TX
Program: Environmental Science – MS
Assess the effects of Bird City Texas, a community-focused certification program created to help people protect birds and their habitats on
1. attitudes towards birds and bird conservation
2. engagement in nature-based recreation and bird conservation efforts
3. nature-based knowledge.

Graduate Assistantship: Ravens and Grouse
Utah State University | Logan, UT
Program: Wildlife Biology – MS
Investigate raven movements inside known Greater sage-grouse habitats.

MS Opportunities: Behavioral Ecology and Conservation
William & Mary | Williamsburg, VA
Program: Biology – MS
Recruiting new research Masters students in areas of behavioral ecology and applied conservation science, to start in Fall 2021.

Masters & Doctorate

Graduate Research Assistant (MS or PhD) in Aquatic Macroecology / Data Science 
Louisiana State University | Baton Rouge, LA
Program: Oceanography & Coastal Sciences – MS
Work on building a database of CO2 in flowing waters (streams) across the US and use statistical modeling to detect spatial and temporal trends.

Phd or MS Position: Predation Risk, Maternal Stress Effects, and Transgenerational Plasticity
University of Massachusetts Dartmouth | Dartmouth, MA
Program: Biology – MS
Projects in our research group are centered on two major themes:
1. Some aspect of how ecological stressors drive changes in free-living animals physiology and behavior, how this impacts reproduction and survival, how this drives changes in population dynamics and ultimately community structure.
2. Some aspect of how maternal stress may impact offspring physiology, behavior and fitness.

MS or PhD Assistantship: Migration Ecology
New Mexico State University | Las Cruces, NM
Program: Fish, Wildlife & Conservation Ecology – MS
Examine migration ecology in the southwest and, particularly, the effects of light pollution on migrating birds.

MS or PhD Assistantship: Restoration Ecology
Utah State University | Logan, UT
Program: Wildlife Biology – MS
MS –  plasticity of Bluebunch wheatgrass for restoration
PhD – Criollo cattle in the Canyonlands area
PhD – sagebrush die-off science & restoration in southern UT

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To post a graduate opportunity to our next Funding Update, please email us:
[email protected]

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Doctorate Opportunities

PhD Assistantship: Wildlife Survey Design
Auburn University | Auburn, AL
Program: Wildlife Sciences – PhD
Evaluate current and potential alternative survey designs for assessing abundance of wintering waterfowl in Alabama’s Tennessee River Valley.

PhD Research Assistantships (3): Stream Ecology
University of Arkansas | Fayetteville, AR
Program: Biological Sciences – PhD
Focus on factors affecting population and community dynamics of freshwater fish and invertebrates, especially the role of disturbance in community dynamics, impacts of introduced species in aquatic ecosystems, and conservation of aquatic ecosystems.

PhD Position: Sustainable Oceans
University of California, Davis | Davis, CA
Program: Ecology – PhD
Research Traineeship (NRT) program “Sustainable Oceans: From Policy to Science to Decisions”
Focusses on the front-end of the research and training enterprise as a means of building more effective links between the science and decisions on sustainable use of living marine resources.

PhD in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
University of Connecticut | Mansfield, CT
Program: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology – PhD
Study the interface of ecology and evolution with a focus on understanding the creation and maintenance of biodiversity and resilience of natural systems to disturbances such as climate change.

PhD Student: Forest Ecosystem Dynamics
University of Florida | Gainesville, FL
Program: Forest Resources and Conservation – PhD
Study forest dynamics across spatial scales exploring topics of forest health and tree regeneration.

PhD Position: Remote Sensing & Forestry
University of Georgia | Athens, GA
Program: Forest Resources – PhD
Work on research related to the assessment of understory vegetation in the coastal plain region of the Southern US.

PhD Student: Idaho Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit
University of Idaho | Moscow, ID
Program: Natural Resources – PhD
Evaluate factors associated with the distribution, occurrence, and population dynamics of Bull Trout in Idaho.

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PhD Research Assistantship: Soil Chemistry
University of Kentucky | Lexington, KT
Program: Integrated Plant and Soil Sciences – PhD 
Study the biological and abiotic transformations of ammonium in soils using a combination of wet chemical and imaging/spectroscopic techniques to contribute novel information to our understanding of the nitrogen cycle.

PhD Position: Plant Evolutionary Ecology
Michigan Technological University | Houghton, MI
Program: Biological Sciences – PhD 
Understand the origin, maintenance, and changes of genetic, phenotypic and species diversity patterns. Current projects are related to plant genome size evolution and ecology, species interactions (plant-herbivore-pathogen-pollinator-plant interactions), and invasive species biology.

PhD Position: Forest Restoration, Soil Health, & Water Quality
Mississippi State University | Starkville, MS
Program: Forest Resources – PhD
Assess changes in ecosystem services like water quality and soil health during forest restoration activities.

PhD Research Assistantship: Soil Health Monitoring
University of North Dakota | Grand Forks, ND
Program: Biological Sciences – PhD
Develop process-level understanding in support of management that improves soil health, biodiversity, and productivity of irrigated meadows.

PhD Assistantship: Black Bears
Oklahoma State University | Stillwater, OK
Program: Natural Resource Ecology & Management – PhD
Address factors affecting fine-scale movements of dispersing male and female black bears and the implications for bear-human conflict and establishment of a self-sustaining black bear population in east-central Oklahoma.

PhD Assistantship: Landscape Ecology and Fire
Texas Tech University | Lubbock, TX
Program: Wildlife, Aquatic, and Wildlands Science and Management – PhD
Help mentor undergraduate cohorts through The Bridge Adventure Program, a program that aims to foster diversity and inclusion through field-based experiential learning opportunities, including regular excursions for mentored research, service learning, and community-building adventure.

PhD Position: Stream Ecology
University of Texas at Arlington | Arlington, TX
Program: Quantitative Biology – PhD
Determine how biodiversity and species co-occurrence networks in streams—one of the most threatened ecosystems on Earth—would respond to climate change under mitigated, stabilizing, and increasing greenhouse gas emissions.

PhD Positions (2): Microbiome Ecology
University of Texas | Arlington, TX
Program:Quantitative Biology – PhD
Project 1. Seeks to quantify the role of gut microbiota in the plant-insect chemical arms race.
Project 2. Examines the relationship between stinkbugs and the bacterial genus Burkholderia, an emerging model system in symbiosis research, to understand when and how animals benefit from environmentally-acquired microbes.

PhD Assistantship: Rangeland Ecology
Utah State University | Logan, UT
Program: Wildlife Biology
Assess movements of an experimental herd of GPS-collared Criollo and evaluates their impacts on ecosystem services, as well as analyzes efficiency of beef production.

PhD Assistantship: Environmental Data Science and Forecasting
Virginia Tech | Blacksburg, VA
Program: Fisheries and Wildlife Sciences – PhD
apply innovative new techniques to combine lake ecosystem modeling with sensor data analyses to forecast future water quality in drinking water reservoirs

Categories
Graduate School Cost

How Much Do Environmental Graduate Programs Cost?

How much does graduate school cost? For environmental professionals, this is an especially important question to consider.

In fields like conservation and ecology,  an ultra-competitive job market and relatively low pay can make graduate school both critically important and financially questionable at the same time.

If you think you may need to self-fund or secure loans for graduate school, then you should give close consideration to program costs in your decision making. 

Why? First of all, understanding the likely costs can help you decide whether or not you should even go to graduate school. You need to know the costs to determine if the benefits of graduate school are worth it. 

Second, knowing the costs of different programs can help you comparison-shop and decide which one is best for you.

Understanding the Costs

Most schools publish an official “Cost of Attendance” on their websites. You will see numbers for “Tuition Per Semester,” “Tuition Per Credit,” “Mandatory Fees, and other potentially confusing terms. 

Unfortunately, these numbers give an incomplete picture of what your actual program costs will be. To complicate matters, different schools use different pricing approaches. This makes apples-to-apples comparisons difficult.

In the sections to follow, we try to help you better understand the different ways that graduate school pricing works. We also explain how you can translate the prices provided by graduate schools into working estimates of your program costs. 

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How do Schools Charge Tuition?

Tuition is the main cost you will pay as a student. If you want to get a good handle on total program costs, you should first look at the tuition numbers. Schools typically charge tuition in one of three ways as outlined below: 

Pricing Approach # 1: Tuition Per Credit

Some schools charge tuition on a simple cost per credit basis. For example, Texas A&M charges $903 tuition per credit hour for non-residents. 

Estimating Total Program Tuition 

Under this pricing model, you can easily estimate your Total Program Tuition costs (i.e. the total tuition you will pay over the duration of your enrollment). Simply take the minimum number of program credits required to graduate and multiply that number by the cost per credit hour. Please note, to figure out your full program cost you will also need to add in the school fees which we review later in this article.

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EXAMPLE – Tuition Cost Estimate

Texas A&M’s Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences – MS program
*Requires a minimum of 32 credits to graduate.

$28,896 tuition = 32 credits x $903 per credit

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PRO TIPBump your estimates by 15% to buffer for unanticipated costs

When making your estimates you should keep in mind a couple of caveats that could raise your costs. You may want to increase your estimates by 15% to account for these two possibilities:

  1. If you take more than the minimum number of credits required to graduate, then you will pay more than the estimate. This could easily happen. Maybe you decide to take an extra class to fill in a knowledge-gap or build skills. Maybe your combination of classes goes 1 or 2 credits over the minimum. For a 30 credit program, taking an extra 3 credits will bump your tuition costs 10%.
  2. Prices can change from year to year. If you are in a 2-year program, the tuition figures for year 1 could go up the second year.

Pricing Approach # 2: Fixed Tuition Per Semester (Full-Time Students)

Many schools charge a fixed tuition cost per semester for full-time students. So what does it take to be a “full-time” graduate student? Generally, if you enroll in 9 credits (or more) in a semester, your school will consider you a full-time student. 

For example, Colorado State University charges non-residents a fixed tuition cost of $12,895 for enrolling in 9 credits or more. But it charges $1,432 per credit for enrolling in less than 9 credits.

You Can Save Money by Taking a Heavier Course Load 

Under this pricing model, the cost per credit is variable depending on the number of credits you take. See how the cost per credit at Colorado State decreases 25% as a student goes from 9 to 12 credits:

Estimating Total Program Tuition

Estimating your Total Program Tuition under a Fixed Tuition Per Semester model is more complicated and less certain. It depends on how many semesters it takes you to complete your degree and the number of credits you take each semester. This can be hard to predict.

To get a good sense of a typical semester-by-semester course load for a program, contact the department. They should be able to give you the most common scenario. You can then plug in the credits and associated costs for each semester and estimate a total.

There is also a simpler and safer way to calculate your estimate.

Schools with Fixed Tuition Per Semester pricing for full-time students should also have a tuition per credit rate for part-time students.  You can take that part-time tuition per credit rate and multiply it by the number of program credits required to graduate.

This “safe” estimate of total tuition may be a little higher than what you would pay with a heavier course load. But it gives a good rough estimate of your total tuition “ceiling.” 

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EXAMPLE – Estimating Total Tuition with Part-Time Student Rates

Colorado State University’s Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences – MS program

*Requires a minimum of 30 credits to graduate and a Thesis.
*We assume taking no more than 9 credits per semester
*Charges $1,432 per credit for part-time students

$42,960 tuition = 30 credits  x $1,432 per credit

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Pricing Approach # 3: Fixed Tuition Per Program

Lastly, some schools use a less common approach of charging a single fixed price for the entire program tuition. You can find this cost structure in some non-thesis, professional- based Master’s programs and Certificate Programs. 

The straightforward approach takes the stress out of projecting your program costs.

Tufts University for example charges a flat rate of $44,346 for its 12-month Conservation Medicine – MS program.

Mandatory and Optional Fees

Paying for school means more than just covering the cost of tuition. Schools also charge what are known as “Mandatory Fees.” This term sounds imposing, but it simply refers to fees that you are required to pay. 

On the other hand “Optional Fees” typically cover extra niceties like on-campus housing or a dining plan, which you can elect to pay for, or not.

Though they will vary a bit from school to school and program to program, mandatory fees generally help cover extra operational and program expenses.

Below are the mandatory fees at the University of Oregon (Fall 2020). 

  • Matriculation Fee (one-time) | $430
  • Building Fee | $23-$45 (depending on number of credits)
  • Incidental Fee | $259.25
  • Health Service Fee | $233.25
  • Recreation Center Fee | $38
  • Technology Fee | $50

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How much will you be paying in mandatory fees?

To arrive at an accurate estimate of your total program costs, you will need to add in your mandatory program fees. These are usually charged on a per-semester basis.  

On average, environmental master’s programs listed on CJB Network charge about $450/semester in mandatory fees. However, fees can vary widely from school to school. You should always determine the school fees before estimating program costs. Also, keep in mind that your total fees may depend on how many semesters it takes you to complete your degree. 

See how the fees change our cost estimates from earlier. We assume a student completes these programs in 4 semesters:

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EXAMPLE – Total Cost with Mandatory Fees

Texas A&M’s Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences – MS program
Estimated Total Tuition = $28,896
Mandatory Fees = $1,744 ($436 per semester)

Total Cost = $30,640

Colorado State University’s Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences – MS program
Estimated Total Tuition = $42,960
Mandatory Fees = $4,520 ($1,130 per semester)

Total Cost = $47,480

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In-State Discounts

You can save a lot of money by attending a public university within the state you live, sometimes paying half the tuition rates that students pay coming out of state. Some schools also participate in regional exchanges that offer discounted tuition to residents of neighboring states.

Most states let you apply for residency after 1-2 years of living within the state. Just make sure you have the proper paperwork for proof of residency when applying to your chosen school. Change your driver’s license, register to vote, have tax documents for your place of work or lease paperwork for your housing.

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EXAMPLE – Resident vs. Non-Resident Tuition
See how a resident discount decreases the estimated tuition in the two state schools below:

Texas A&M’s Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences – MS program
Non Resident – Estimated Total Tuition = $28,896
Resident – Estimated Total Tuition = $12,480  (saves 56%)  

Colorado State University’s Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences – MS program
Non Resident – Estimated Total Tuition = $42,960
Resident – Estimated Total Tuition = $17,520  (saves 59%)
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PRO TIPSome online graduate programs offer in-state rates to out-of-state students.

School Tuition Varies Widely

Tuition for environmental graduate programs can vary widely across schools. Below, see two examples on the low and high end of total cost per credit for full-time students.

What is the Average Cost for an Environmental Graduate Program?

Below we outline a range of tuition costs for environmental Master’s and Certificate programs. We calculated these figures from data we gathered on over 1400 environmental graduate programs in the United States that we list on CJB Network.

Total Fees in the table are based on an average of school mandatory fees applied to 4 semesters for a Master’s and 2 semesters for a Certificate. 

Other Costs

So far this article has only looked at mandatory tuition and fees charged by schools. However, when considering graduate school, you should also weigh the full costs of the experience including living expenses, books, supplies, and the opportunity cost of any foregone income. 

This will help you decide whether graduate school is right for you. It can also help you compare the relative costs of programs.

Living expenses can vary widely across geographic areas. This can have major impacts on the relative affordability of programs. You can use a cost of living tool to estimate your living expenses in multiple geographic locations.

Categories
Assistantships

Environmental Graduate Funding Update – 34 Assistantships

Below find the latest graduate assistantships and other funding opportunities posted across the web in the last week in ecology, conservation and related environmental fields.

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Master’s Opportunities

MS Position: Fire Ecology of Oak and Pine Forests
Auburn University | Auburn, AL
Program: Forestry – MS
Conduct extensive field research investigating the influence of fire on upland oak and pine forest regeneration. Understand the consequences of forest compositional shifts on resource availability and forest flammability at a variety of sites across the southeast.

MS Assistantship: Stream Fish Ecology
University of Central Arkansas 
| Conway, AR
Program: Biology – MS
Study variation in fish assemblages across Gulf Coastal Plains streams in Arkansas in relation to land use.

MS Position: Tree Root Research for Improving Green Tree Reservoir Management
University of Arkansas Monticello 
| Monticello, AR
Program: Forest Resources – MS
Conduct field and controlled environment studies to better understand the interactive effects of temperature, flood, and dormancy on oak root physiology.

MS Research Assistantship: Minnow Population Genomics
Southern Illinois University | Carbondale, IL
Program: Zoology – MS
Analyze Single Nucleotide Polymorphism (SNP) genotypes for the conservation of chubs (Macrhybopsis spp.).

MS Research Assistant: Wetland Macroinvertebrates
Emporia State University
| Emporia, Kansas
Program: Biology – MS
Investigate the effects of various wetland management practices on macroinvertebrate community dynamics.

MS Teaching Assistantships (3): Marine and Environmental Biology
Nicholls State University | Thibodaux, Louisiana
Program: Marine & Environmental Biology – MS
1. Conduct water quality surveys and monitor for the presence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria (ARB) and antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) in the public boat launches of southeast Louisiana.
2. Monitor of antibiotic-resistant bacteria (ARB) and antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) in the migratory birds in southeast Louisiana.
3. Conduct laboratory and field research on an NSF funded functional genomics and husbandry project using spotted gar.

MS Graduate Assistantship: Assessing the Distribution and Abundance of Bridle Shiner
University of Maine 
| Orono, ME
Program: Wildlife Ecology – MS
Incorporate historic data, standard field surveys and the use of environmental DNA to assess current distributions of the Bridle Shiner, a special concern species in Maine.

MS Position: Lake Sturgeon Ecology
University of Toledo | Toledo, OH
Program: Biology – MS
Leverage the Great Lakes Acoustic Telemetry System (GLATOS) to address questions related to Lake Sturgeon ecology through analysis of telemetry data.

MS Position: Tropical Community Ecology
Oklahoma State University | Stillwater, OK
Program: Plant Biology – MS
Develop an independent research project around:
1. Effects of enemies (herbivores, pathogens, etc.) and mutualists on plant communities.
2. Effects of altered climate on species interaction and coexistence
3. Roles played by enemies and mutualists along succession.
4. Coexistence theory.

MS Research Assistant: Fisheries
Oklahoma State University | Stillwater, OK
Program: Natural Resource Ecology and Management – MS
Investigate Striped Bass and Catastomid populations in river and reservoir habitats and hydroacoustic assessment of forage in reservoirs.

MS Assistantship: Ecology & Conservation of Freshwater Mussels
Clemson University | Clemson, SC
Program: Wildlife & Fisheries Biology – MS
Address questions related to the ecology and recovery of the federally endangered Carolina Heelsplitter mussel in South Carolina.

MS Graduate Assistantship: Fisheries Ecology 
Texas Tech University | Lubbock, TX
Program: Wildlife, Aquatic & Wildlands Science & Management – MS
Conduct a population assessment of invasive Bigheaded carps (Bighead carp, Silver carp) in the Sulphur River as it flows through Texas and Arkansas.

MS Teaching Assistantships: Conservation, Data Science, and Genomics
William & Mary | Williamsburg, VA
Program: Biology – MS
Topics can be chosen around molecular genetics, biomath and ecology, and should explore the research interests of current faculty.

Masters & Doctorate

MS or PhD Positions: Influence of Dams on Riverine Fish Populations
Auburn University | Auburn, AL
Program: Fisheries – MS
Study the effects of large lock-and-dam systems on riverine fishes, potential for fish to pass structures using spillways and lock chambers, use of hard part microchemistry and stable isotope analysis to study natal origins and fish movement as a response to the presence of dams, and laboratory study of fishes in response to effects of dams.

MS and PhD Graduate Student Positions: Aquatic/Fisheries Ecology
Ohio State University | Columbus, OH
Program: Evolution, Ecology & Organismal Biology – MS, PhD
1. Study the ecology of Lake Erie yellow perch.
2. Study the ecology of blue catfish and channel catfish in Ohio reservoirs.
3. Study the impact of cyanobacteria blooms and hypoxia on Lake Erie’s food webs.

MS and PhD Positions: Water Quality and Carbon Cycling in Freshwaters
Purdue University | West Lafayette, IN
Program: Forestry & Natural Resources – MS, PhD
Research opportunities include:
1. Apply national networks of in situ water sensors (including NEON and USGS) to model microbial and photo-oxidation of organic matter.
2. Use sensor networks to model and predict water quality in midwestern lakes at risk for eutrophication.
3. Understand landscape controls on methane production using high-resolution LiDAR and bathymetry.

MS or PhD Assistantship: Gizzard Shad Sampling in Reservoirs
Oklahoma State University | Stillwater, OK
Program: Natural Resource Ecology & Management – MS, PhD
Develop protocol for sampling gizzard shad with hydroacoustics and trawls in large highland reservoirs.

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To post a graduate opportunity to our next Funding Update, please email us:
[email protected]

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Doctorate Opportunities

PhD Position: Plant Ecology
University of California Davis | Davis, CA
Program: Plant Biology – PhD
Develop drought strategies of herbaceous species in California grassland systems.

PhD Assistantship for Fisheries Population Dynamics
Florida International University | Miami, FL
Program: Biology – PhD
Develop quantitative modeling approaches to assess and predict fisheries population dynamics for spiny lobsters and red snappers.

PhD Position: Ecological/ Evolutionary Plant Physiology
Florida International University | Miami, FL
Program: Biology – PhD
1. the effects of genome size-cell size allometry on plant structure, function, and evolution.
2. the physiological dimensions of floral evolution.
3. speciation of the desert genus Encelia (Asteraceae)

PhD Research Assistantship: Fire Ecology
University of Idaho | Moscow, ID
Program: Natural Resources – PhD
Evaluate the effectiveness of fuel breaks in mitigating size and risk of damaging wildfires and the fuel break ecological impacts in sagebrush steppe ecosystems.

MS or PhD Assistant Positions (3): Invasion Ecology
Southern Illinois University | Carbondale, IL
Program: Zoology – MS, PhD
1. Fish movement including novel analysis techniques for telemetry data.
2. Invasion ecology including the impacts and management of invasions.
3. Socioeconomic/ecological factors underlying the establishment and control of aquatic species invasions.

PhD Positions: Fish and Aquatic Ecology
Purdue University | West Lafayette, IN
Program: Forestry and Natural Resources – PhD
Address important management issues in the Great Lakes (e.g., ecological effects of eutrophication, climate change impacts on larval fish dispersal and hypoxia influences on fish distributions and movement patterns).

PhD Positions: Tree Functional Ecology, Life History Tradeoffs, Demography and Community Ecology
University of Notre Dame | Notre Dame, IN
Program: Biological Sciences – PhD
Research on North American tree biology and/or Asian subtropical or tropical forests.

PhD Positions: Evolution, Ecology, and Behavior
University of Louisville | KY
Program: Biology – PhD
Study how populations of Rhagoletis flies and Ambystomatid salamanders respond and their consequences for community interactions vary across time and space.

Phd Position: Community Ecology and Species Coexistence
University of Maryland Baltimore County | Baltimore, MD
Program: Geography & Environmental Systems – PhD
Understand the role of native plant biodiversity in enhancing ecosystem services on urban vacant land.

PhD Research Assistantships: Aquatic Ecology
University of Mississippi | Oxford, MS
Program: Biological Sciences – PhD
Research the interface between community, behavioral, and evolutionary ecology in freshwater systems, or at the freshwater/terrestrial interface, as well as participate in ongoing projects.

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PhD Position: Fishes in the Warming Gulf of Maine
University of New Hampshire | Durham, NH
Program: Biological Sciences – PhD
investigate how diets of predators have shifted over the past several decades. This information, along with climate change models, will be integrated to understand how predator-prey relationships may continue to change in the future.

PhD Graduate Assistantship: Quantitative Fisheries Science
Cornell University | Ithaca, NY
Program: Natural Resources – PhD
Investigate mechanisms underlying changing fish community dynamics in temperate lakes.

PhD Graduate Research Assistantship: Recovery and Restoration Strategies for Steelhead in California’s Central Valley
Oregon State University | Corvallis, OR
Program: Fisheries Science – PhD
Conduct a multi-year research project developing quantitative tools to assist managers in constructing recovery and restoration strategies for Steelhead in California’s Central Valley.

PhD Positions: Investigate Continental Patterns of Riverine Fish Invasions
Clemson University | Clemson, SC
Program: Wildlife & Fisheries Biology – PhD
Perform observational field studies, experiments, and modeling of large datasets to investigate community ecology and fish conservation.

PhD Positions (2): Stream Fish Invasion Ecology
Clemson University & Louisiana State University | Clemson, SC & Baton Rouge, LA
Program: Oceanography & Coastal Sciences – PhD
Investigate continental patterns of riverine fish invasions.

PhD Assistantship: Assessing Effects of BMPs and Land Use in the Chesapeake Bay Basin on Stream Fishes
Virginia Tech | Blackburg, VA
Program: Fisheries & Wildlife Sciences – PhD
Participate in an innovative multi-scale assessment of the effectiveness of widely implemented BMPs in improving physical, chemical, and biotic conditions in streams of the Chesapeake Bay basin.

PhD Positions (5): Social-Ecological Dynamics of Fisheries
Virginia Tech & Indiana University Bloomington | Blacksburg, VA & Bloomington, IN
Program: Fisheries & Wildlife Sciences – PhD
Focus on arapaima fisheries in the Brazilian Amazon including, habitat effects on arapaima movement, effects of fishers’ perceptions on rule compliance in light of community culture, leadership, and institutional arrangements, effects of markets, institutions, and government rules on arapaima management, and effects of habitat and rule compliance on the dynamics of arapaima populations.

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