Graduate Student Opportunity:
I am seeking a highly motivated graduate student to join my ocean
biogeochemistry- climate research group in the Department of Earth and
Environmental Science at University of Pennsylvania (UPenn).
Applicants must be self-motivated and hard working with good written
and verbal communication skills. A strong background in physics,
chemistry, engineering, oceanography or atmospheric science is ideal.
Past programming experience under the Linux environment (especially
programming in Fortran, matlab or python) is highly desirable. The
research will combine theoretical aspects with running climate change
simulations and sensitivity studies (using a general circulation
model) on the new state-of-the-art computer cluster we have recently
acquired for our group.
Possible scientific research areas include (a) developing a
theoretical understanding for what controls the oceanic sink for
atmospheric CO2; (b) studying large scale trends as well as decadal
trends and variability in ocean phytoplankton ecology and ocean carbon
cycle; (c) combining theoretical ecology with climate modeling to
understand the link between climate, nutrient supply and ocean
plankton distribution; (d) the role of ocean mixing and circulation in
determining the ocean carbon uptake and the global scale oceanic
distribution of nutrients and carbon dioxide; (e) changes in the
hydrological cycle and resulting impacts on climate on decadal to
millenial time scales.
Another potential thesis topic is the future of the Southern Ocean
carbon sink under a warming climate and the resulting implications for
ecosystem ecology. This project will quantify future changes in
phytoplankton growth and ecology by simulating future global climate
changes in both a global climate model and regional ocean models of
the Weddell Sea, Antarctic Peninsula and Ross Sea. From a technical
point of view, the project will involve incorporating and testing
biogeochemistry modules in regional models of the Southern Ocean.
The position starts in the summer or fall 2010. If interested please
contact me at imarinovATsas.upenn.edu.
Please note that applications are due in December 2009. For details
see the PhD program page at UPenn
(http://www.sas.upenn.edu/earth/graduate.htm ) and
http://www.sas.upenn.edu/earth/marinov_g.html
Dr. Irina Marinov
Dept of Earth & Environmental Science
Univ of Pennsylvania
240 S. 33rd Street -Hayden Hall 153
Philadelphia, PA 19104
tel: 215.898.1014
<mailto:imari...@sas.upenn.edu>imari...@sas.upenn.edu
http://www.sas.upenn.edu/earth/marinov.html
