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PhD Assistantship | Utah State University

by Grace L. Schumaker on April 27, 2018

Utah State University: Fully funded PhD Assistantship – Animal space-use
behavior and demography (joint supervision by Dr. Dan MacNulty and Dr.
Tal Avgar).

The successful applicant will advance understanding about the
demographic consequences of space-use behavior in free-living large-
vertebrate systems. Research will focus on the northern Yellowstone elk
population, which migrates annually to summer ranges throughout
Yellowstone National Park. The successful applicant will examine how elk
movement and resource-selection varies with elk density, resource
availability, and predation risk (from wolves, grizzly bears, and
cougars), and how these individual space-use behaviors affect survival
and reproduction. Research will be conducted in collaboration with
agency scientists and will involve cutting-edge analyses of several
long-term datasets as well as field work in Yellowstone. Desired start
date: August 27, 2018. The assistantship includes tuition and fees,
health insurance, travel stipend, and a yearly stipend of $20k for up to
four years. The candidate will be expected to apply for additional
funding such as the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship and S. J. and Jesse
E. Quinney Doctoral Research Fellowship.

Minimum qualifications: MSc in ecology, wildlife biology, conservation
biology, or related field; GRE scores (for both verbal and quantitative)
≥70th percentile and cumulative GPA ≥3.50. Competitive applicants will
have experience collecting, analyzing, presenting, and publishing field
data, working collaboratively with agency and academic scientists, and
strong interests in developing and applying quantitative models of
animal space-use behavior, predator-prey interactions, and demography.
Applicants should email the following materials as a single pdf file
with the subject line “PhD Assistantship” to dan.macnulty@usu.edu AND
avgart@gmail.com: (a) one page cover letter describing relevant
experience, interests, and professional goals, (b) CV, (c) GRE scores,
(d) transcripts (unofficial) from undergraduate and graduate education,
(f) scientific writing sample (an academic paper or report written
primarily by the applicant), and (e) contact information for three
professional references. Consideration of interested applicants begins
immediately and continues until the position is filled.

Utah State University (http://www.usu.edu) is a Research I (Extensive
Doctoral) land-grant institution with a student body of over 24,000, 42
departments, 8 academic colleges, a school of Graduate Studies, and
diverse research programs. The main campus is located in Logan, a
community of 100,000 people. Logan is 85 miles north of Salt Lake City
in scenic Cache Valley, a semi-rural mountain basin with nearby ski
resorts, lakes, rivers, and mountains providing many recreational
opportunities. The area has a low cost of living and provides a high
quality of life.  For more information on Logan see
http://www.tourcachevalley.com.

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