[ES_JOBS_NET] Postdoc/post-masters opportunity: Wisconsin Water Resources Science-Policy Fellowship (Hydrology and Fisheries)

[Carolyn Voter]

The University of Wisconsin Water Resources Institute (WRI) in partnership with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (WDNR) seeks postdoctoral and post-master’s candidates interested in tackling science and policy challenges related to hydrology and stream flow in Wisconsin. Together, these programs will fund a Wisconsin Water Resources Science-Policy Fellowship in hydrology and fisheries. This fellowship will provide a unique educational and career opportunity for recent graduates who are interested both in aquatic resources and in the policy decisions affecting those resources in Wisconsin. This program places a recent master’s or doctoral graduate within a state program full-time for one to two years, with the Fellow bringing technical skills to benefit water issues and challenges and receiving valuable real-world science-policy experience from the resource professionals who will serve as mentors. This mutually beneficial partnership will result in advancing science to support policy decisions as well as valuable training opportunities for new professionals entering the work force. We are primarily seeking a hydrologist with a quantitative background and desire to collaborate with ecologists and fishery managers.

The fellow will have the opportunity to collaborate with hydrologists and fisheries managers and researchers in the WDNR, UW-Madison, and at U.S. Geological Survey. The fellow will be appointed by the UW-Madison Aquatic Sciences Center (home to the University of Wisconsin Water Resources Institute) and stationed primarily in the WDNR Bureau of Drinking Water and Groundwater headquarters in Madison, WI. The fellowship mentor team will likely include: Adam Freihoefer and Dr. Carolyn Voter (WDNR Drinking and Groundwater), Dr. Alex Latzka (WDNR Fisheries Management), Dr. Greg Sass (WDNR Fisheries Research), Dr. Titus Seilheimer (Wisconsin Sea Grant Fisheries Specialist), and Dr. Jennifer Hauxwell (UW-Madison Aquatic Sciences Center Associate Director).

Project Description: Wisconsin surface waters have undergone extreme hydrological changes caused by droughts, groundwater withdrawals, and increasing precipitation and frequencies of extreme storms, resulting in myriad responses of stream flow and temperature. These responses may influence fish habitat availability and quality, along with other beneficial uses of streams. This postdoctoral fellow will help develop models to better understand the roles of water budget components in shaping stream hydrology and temperature while collaborating with fisheries managers and researchers to understand effects on fisheries. Results of these models will help refine the WDNR’s approach toward environmental review of high capacity wells in fulfillment of requirements prescribed in Wis. Stat. 281.34 and Wis. Admin. Code NR 820. Through this work the fellow will help streamline the current environmental review process for new high capacity well applications by improving existing tools or developing new tools for a scientifically defensible, timely assessment of groundwater pumping impacts on surface water bodies.

Position Objectives (Hydrology):
  - Update statewide streamflow model
  - Review existing approaches for determining significant impacts on navigable waterways
  - Establish a new or improve an existing flow-ecology relationship for navigable trout streams throughout Wisconsin
  - Characterize endemic risk to aquatic ecosystems due to baseflow variation.
  - Develop risk management criterion based on the effects of altered hydrologic regimes to Wisconsin stream biological functions including fisheries

While the bulk of the fellow’s work will focus on the research and modeling, there will be opportunities to assist with field projects, attend trainings and conferences, participate in policy discussions and work groups, and generally collaborate with DNR staff. The candidate will be expected to produce at least one lead-authored manuscript and contribute to internal DNR reports, and may be able to develop interactive tools via R Shiny related to their work.

More detail including application instructions is in the attached fellowship announcement or here - https://www.wri.wisc.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020-Wisconsin-Water-Resources-Science-Policy-Fellowship-Announcement-Hydrology-and-Fisheries.pdf

The application deadline is June 5, 2020.

If you have any questions, please contact Jennifer Hauxwell at jennifer.hauxwell at aqua.wisc.edu.


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Carolyn B. Voter, PhD
Wisconsin Water Resources Science-Policy Fellow
Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and University of Wisconsin-Madison
cvoter at wisc.edu | @VoteWater | carolynbvoter.com

<http://carolynbvoter.weebly.com/>
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