Grad positions at ECOSS

Published by Christina Schaedel on

Northern Arizona University campus in the summer showing buildings in the foreground and the Peaks in the background
Northern Arizona University campus in the summer showing buildings in the foreground and the San Francisco Peaks in background.

Northern Arizona University campus in the summer. Copyright NAU Marketing

PhD and MS positions in Ecosystem Ecology are available in the Center for Ecosystem Science in Society (Ecoss) at Northern Arizona University. The Ecoss mission is to conduct high-impact, innovative research on ecosystems and how they respond to and shape environmental change, to train next-gen scientists, and to communicate discovery and its relevance to people. Research opportunities are available in the following areas linked to specific Ecoss faculty: The impact of climate change on Alaskan ecosystems, including effects of changing fire and permafrost on plants, soils, and ecosystem services. M. Mack, T. Schuur

How microorganisms shape the ecology of planet Earth and its responses to environmental change, from soils to hot springs to humans. B. Hungate, P. Dijkstra, E. Schwartz 

Freshwater ecology, including the science of river restoration and dam removal, terrestrial aquatic interactions and food web ecology.  J. Marks

Exploring the interaction of water and carbon metabolism in diverse studies ranging from the limits to height growth of the world’s tallest trees to drought responses of soil microorganisms. G. Koch

Graduate student benefits include stipend (TA or RA), tuition waiver, health insurance, support for summer fieldwork in a variety of beautiful ecosystems, and winter in the peaks of sunny Flagstaff, AZ. Candidates should explore the Ecoss website (ecoss.nau.edu) and contact the professor whose interests align most closely. Please include a cover letter describing background, research interests, and qualifications, as well as a current resume. Program applications can be submitted to the Department of Biological Sciences, due January 15, 2017 after communicating with faculty member. Applications received by October 15 may be considered for a prestigious NAU Presidential Fellowship.

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A trio of illustrated panels depicts the soil microbial communities in three treatments of a long-term warming experiment north of Flagstaff, Arizona. The panels are labeled in gray text, left to right: control, short-term warming, long-term warming. The control treatment, far left, depicts bacteria, protists, and other microorganisms identified by sequencing the soil’s metagenome in yellow, orange, green, and blue, along with chains of available nutrients. Soil depicted in the center panel, which has undergone short-term warming, shows an increased abundance and diversity of microbes, some of which are growing, incorporating nutrients, and respiring carbon dioxide. The soil that has undergone long-term warming, imagined in the panel on the right, shows fewer microbial species and competitive relationships that are developing for control of the scarcer nutrients.

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