Graduate Assistantships in Ecosystem Ecology Available at Ecoss

Published by Ecoss on

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

Northern Arizona University: 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:

  • M. Mack, T. Schuur The impact of climate change on Alaskan ecosystems, including effects of changing fire regime and permafrost thaw on vegetation dynamics, plant-soil-microbial interactions, nutrient and carbon cycling, and ecosystem services.
  • B. Hungate, P. Dijkstra, E. Schwartz The effects of environmental change on soil carbon and nutrient cycling, and the physiological, population and community ecology of soil microorganisms.
  • J. Marks Freshwater ecology, including the science of river restoration and dam removal, terrestrial aquatic interactions and food web ecology.
  • G. Koch 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. 

Graduate student benefits include stipend, 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 their background, research interests, and qualifications, as well as a current resume. Program applications can be submitted to the Department of Biological Sciences (final applications due January 15, 2016 after communicating with faculty member).

Categories: News & Events

Related Posts

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.

Does a warmer future favor microbial friend or foe? Ecoss researchers win $3.4M to study interactions in changing soil

In 2002, the Odyssey probe discovered evidence of past ice on Mars. The U.S. Congress authorized the Iraq War resolution. The Anaheim Angels won the World Series. And in a meadow 15 miles north of Read more…

image depicts an earth sliced into nine segments, each representing possible emissions scenarios from permafrost through the year 2100

Future emissions from ‘country of permafrost’ significant, must be factored into global climate targets

By the end of this century, permafrost in the rapidly warming Arctic will likely emit as much carbon dioxide and methane into the atmosphere as a large industrial nation, and potentially more than the U.S. Read more…

A bridge to stronger, more diverse Earth sciences

The Center for Ecosystem Science and Society (Ecoss) at NAU has been named one of 15 new partner institutions of the AGU Bridge Program, which works to support students in applying to and succeeding in Read more…