[ES_JOBS_NET] Graduate positions in weather/climate at IU Bloomington, Indiana

[Atmospheric Science]

Dear Potential Ph.D. and M.S. Students,


The Earth and Atmospheric Science Department at Indiana University, Bloomington invites you to consider joining our department to pursue a graduate degree in Atmospheric Science!


The EAS department at IU Bloomington<https://earth.indiana.edu/> includes 7 faculty actively teaching and researching a range of topics in climate and atmospheric science<https://earth.indiana.edu/directory/faculty/index.html?disciplines=Atmospheric%20Sciences>, including: extreme weather and climate, climate variability and change, global circulation and the hydrological cycle, tropical cyclone predictability, and wind energy.  Climate modeling, big data analysis, and machine learning are common factors across these research themes, all of which take advantage of high-performance computing resources available for free<https://kb.iu.edu/d/alde> to the IU research community.  The atmospheric science group at IU is closely integrated with other faculty in the Earth sciences<https://earth.indiana.edu/directory/faculty/index.html>, providing the opportunity to pursue a holistic approach to understanding our changing world.  Our research is done in collaboration with numerous other world class departments, schools, and institutes at Indiana University, including the Luddy School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering<https://luddy.indiana.edu> and the O'Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs<https://oneill.indiana.edu>. As a graduate of IU, you can expect to join the ranks of alumni who go on to successful roles in industry and academia.


We have multiple openings for M.S. and Ph.D. students fully funded by research and teaching assistantships starting in Fall 2024 or even possibly Spring 2024 (i.e., January) if you submit an application ASAP.  Potential topics include:

  *   Coastal climate and extremes

  *   Tropical waves and stratospheric moisture

  *   Hadley cell dynamics and drought

  *   Jet stream dynamics

  *   Climate engineering

  *   Tropical cyclone dynamics and modeling

  *   Machine learning and AI in weather and climate


We seek students from all backgrounds with (1) general curiosity about weather and climate, (2) demonstrated quantitative skills, and (3) a drive to learn and develop innovative mathematical and/or computational solutions to challenging research problems in weather and climate.  If this excites you, we would love to see an application!


You can learn more about our department and IU Bloomington here: https://go.iu.edu/3jha

Bloomington is recognized as one of the best places to live in the US<https://livability.com/best-places/2021-top-100-best-places-to-live-in-america/top-100-2021-bloomington-in/>, with a vibrant, active community that benefits from the metropolitan qualities of a large city and the easy pace of a small town.


You can find information about the application process here<https://earth.indiana.edu/graduate/how-to-apply.html>; we hope you will consider applying.  See below for some suggestions on how to formulate a good application!


Sincerely,

The Atmospheric Sciences faculty

Earth and Atmospheric Sciences Department

Indiana University Bloomington

atmos at indiana.edu<mailto:atmos at indiana.edu>


How to: submit a good grad school application

We want to help you put together the best application possible.  Here is some advice!

What are we looking for?

Our primary questions are:

  1.  Will this student succeed in our program, i.e., will they:

     *   Do well in our graduate classes?

     *   Be productive in research, including writing peer-reviewed papers?

     *   Complete a good thesis in the normal amount of time (2 years for a masters, 5 for a Ph.D.)?

  2.  Does this student’s research interests align with the research interests of at least one faculty member?

  3.  Do we have grant funding to support the student their entire time here?
(note that this relates to question 2–each professor has grant money related to specific research topics within their areas of interest)

How do we evaluate applicants?

We look at the entire graduate application to see if there are clear answers to the above questions.  This includes rating applicants on specific questions:

  *   Does the applicant have excellent academic preparation (e.g., relevant coursework, grades, GPA, etc.)?

  *   Does the applicant have research experience and/or interest, and if so, how does it relate to research that we do?

  *   Does the personal statement give a clear sense of what motivates the applicant to apply to our program specifically, and does it include a good research proposal indicating that the student has put careful thought and effort into considering what they might work on?

  *   Does the applicant have good letters of recommendation from sources who give us specific information about how and why they think the applicant would be successful in our graduate programs?

  *   Does the applicant’s research interest align with research directions for which we have grant funding?

  *   Is there anything in the application that gives us reservations about the applicant (e.g., are there bad grades in the transcripts that the applicant does not address in the personal statement)?


Other qualities that help applicants stand out are:

  *   Excellent communication skills

  *   Evidence of strong self-motivation and ability to do independent research

  *   Strong technical skills, especially with data analysis

Do and Don’t

Here are some tips for what to do - and what not to do - to make sure you give us the best application possible.


Do

Don’t

Do include a research proposal (in your personal statement); see here<https://eduabroadhub.com/2022/07/02/how-to-write-a-research-proposal-for-graduate-school-application/> for good advice

Don’t give a vague statement of interests; we want to see that you’ve done research on what you want to research

Do submit a complete application, with all required materials

Don’t submit an incomplete or late application; we can’t consider late or incomplete applications

Do e-mail specific faculty members to get feedback on a research proposal before submitting your application


Don’t submit an application without definitely knowing who would be your potential advisor and what topic(s) you would work on with them

Do consider applying, even if you have an undergraduate degree in another field

Don’t submit an application without a statement that tells us why you want to get a graduate degree in Atmospheric Science specifically; we need to be convinced that your research interests and preparation will allow you to succeed

Do research us, our department, our graduate program, and Indiana University and make it clear in your application that you’ve done so

Don’t submit a generic application that you’ve copy-pasted to multiple graduate programs; it gives us more confidence in your likelihood to succeed here if it is clear you have put a lot of thought into what your life would be like as a graduate student here

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