[ES_JOBS_NET] Ecological Science/Engineering PhD students wanted

[Erika Marín-Spiotta]

Ecological Science/Engineering PhD students wanted



I am recruiting two PhD students to join the Landscape Flux Group
within the Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering at
the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville. These positions can start
immediately, in January 2015, or in summer or fall of 2015. Students
should have a background in one or more of the following disciplines:
wetland ecology, biogeochemistry, biometeorology, environmental
engineering, watershed or surface-water hydrology, agricultural
sciences or engineering. Some ability to code in Matlab or a related
language is beneficial, as is experience in gas flux measurements
using either chamber-based or eddy covariance methods. These positions
will require a valid US driver’s license.



My research group develops budgets of water, energy, and carbon in
different wetland ecosystems. This research uses micrometeorological
techniques to evaluate land-atmosphere fluxes of water vapor, carbon
dioxide, methane and heat. For example, the eddy covariance technique
is used to determine the turbulent flux within atmospheric boundary
layers, whereas hydrological methods are used to estimate the
horizontal fluxes of dissolved carbon in surface and subsurface
waterways. Together these methods quantify major environmental fluxes
that serve as inputs for process-based predictive modeling and
landscape management.



The PhD research projects will be based in agriculturally-affected
wetlands in Arkansas and low-lying permafrost tundra wetlands in the
Arctic. Both projects will use flux budgeting methods to understand
the landscape’s ecological and hydrological functioning. This research
will connect between site dynamics and climate drivers with the goal
of creating simplified process representations used at the scale of
the global climate model. Resources are available for travel,
equipment and international collaboration.



Additional information about graduate admission requirements, possible
supplemental fellowships, and material about the department may be
found here: http://www.baeg.uark.edu/1932.php. Information about the
university and its land grant mission may be found here:
http://arkansas.edu/about/index.php. Furthermore, the university
offers competitive Doctoral Academy Fellowships, which are awards over
and above the departmental stipend. Details on these opportunities are
available here: http://grad.uark.edu/future/funding/index.php.



The University of Arkansas is in the middle of a significant period of
growth in both its student numbers and in raising its profile in
research and innovation. There are significant opportunities here for
collaborations on-campus in water, soil, nanotech, and other
laboratories. Fayetteville Arkansas is a beautiful and culturally
vibrant college town amidst the Ozark Mountain Range. There are
plentiful outdoor recreational activities, good restaurants, and
proximity to the world-class art collection of the Crystal Bridges
Museum of American Art.



Please email me, Dr. Benjamin Runkle (brrunkle at uark.edu), with a CV,
unofficial transcript, the names of two references, a sample of your
scientific writing, and a description of your research interests.



Benjamin R. K. Runkle

Assistant Professor, Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering

The University of Arkansas, Fayetteville AR 72701

ENGR 231

Phone: 479-575-2878

brrunkle at uark.edu

http://wordpress.uark.edu/brrunkle/

http://scholar.google.com/citations?user=SeZEXyoAAAAJ&hl=en