Ph.D. opportunity: USDA National Needs Fellow at the University of Florida Coffee agroecology under climate change
The Rowland Lab (http://agronomy.ifas.ufl.edu/faculty/diane-rowland/) and the Flory Lab (florylab.com) at the University of Florida (UF) are collaboratively seeking a highly qualified candidate to pursue a Ph.D. focused on the ecophysiology of coffee under climate change conditions. The graduate student will focus on improving understanding of the physiological basis of variation among coffee cultivars in response to experimental drought treatments in Santa Maria, Costa Rica, with an emphasis on whole plant physiological processes related to water use and efficiency. In addition, the student will develop complementary greenhouse or growth chamber-based experiments on the UF campus in Gainesville, FL. A M.Sc. in ecology, environmental science, agronomy, or a closely related field is strongly preferred but a highly qualified candidate holding only a B.Sc. may be considered. Ideal candidates will have broad ecophysiology research experience and preferably peer-reviewed publications, and will be familiar with field experiments and ecophysiology methods, but we encourage all interested candidates to apply. The successful candidate will have excellent demonstrated writing, presentation, and statistical analysis skills. The graduate student will be integrally involved in the design and implementation of experiments, data analysis, and manuscript preparation, and will be expected to present at national conferences. Additional collaborations with other projects in the Rowland and Flory labs are possible. This Ph.D. position is available as soon as May or June, 2018 (and is preferred) but a start date of fall 2018 also is possible. Funding is provided by a USDA National Needs Fellowship to the UF Agronomy Department, and as such, the candidate must be a US citizen or national. The Fellow will also be associated with the UF Center for Stress Resilient Agriculture (CSRA, http://research.ifas.ufl.edu/linked-content/csra/). Information on the UF Graduate school application process can be found at: http://agronomy.ifas.ufl.edu/graduate-programs/ For full consideration please submit application materials as soon as possible, preferably by March 1. Applications will be reviewed as they are received. Prior to applying, please send a brief statement of interest and CV to: Diane Rowland (dlrowl...@ufl.edu) and S. Luke Flory (fl...@ufl.edu)