Applications are invited for a Ph.D. student to fill a graduate research position that is expected to start in fall 2015 or spring 2016 at the DendroLab (http://dendrolab.org/), University of Nevada, Reno (http://www.unr.edu). This position is part of a newly funded NSF project entitled "Relationships between regional climatic patterns, wood anatomy, and hydraulic architecture of conifer species in the western US". The successful applicant will be part of a multi-disciplinary team that includes experts on wood anatomy, forest ecology, climatology, dendrochronology, and numerical analysis. This three-year project is also part of an ongoing collaboration between the UNR DendroLab and the German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ) in Potsdam, Germany. The specific hypotheses that will be tested by the research team concern wood anatomical responses associated with decadal and inter-annual climatic oscillations, in order to evaluate the potential of tree-ring anatomy as a proxy to be integrated into dendroclimatic reconstructions.
Financial support includes a monthly stipend, travel to scientific meetings, field and laboratory analyses, tuition, and health insurance. The appointment will be initially for one year, with a possibility of renewal for the two additional years of the grant. Applicants should have an undergraduate or graduate degree in forestry, ecology, biology, wood science, ecohydrology, or a related field. The ideal candidate should have a strong quantitative background and interest in interdisciplinary and experimental approaches to the development of proxy climate records. Experience is particularly welcomed in wood anatomy and/or in numerical analysis using script-based environments (R or SAS). Candidates need to apply for graduate admission on-line (http://www.unr.edu/grad/admissions), and will become eligible for the position after being accepted by the UNR Graduate School in one of these two graduate programs (depending on the student’s interests): Ecology, Evolution, and Conservation Biology (http://www.unr.edu/eecb) or Environmental Sciences (http://environment.unr.edu/environmental-sciences/). International applicants can find additional information on admission requirements on the Graduate School website (http://www.unr.edu/oiss/prospective-international-students/admissions-process/graduate-checklist). For questions or additional details on the position, please contact Prof. Franco Biondi (fbio...@unr.edu, +1 775 784-6921).
