PhD Position: Land Science Change, Water Resources, River Processes, Land Use Policy | Texas State University
PhD student opportunities in Land Change Science, Water Resources, River
Processes, and Land Use Policy — Department of Geography, Texas State
University
Position Description: The Land Change and Ecosystem Science (LanCES)
research network at Texas State University seeks PhD students to
participate in a variety of research projects. Funding opportunities exist
for Graduate Assistantships at the Doctoral level ($26,000 over 9 months,
renewable up to 4 years). These assistantships come with a waiver of
out-of-
state tuition and access to health benefits. In addition, the Department
provides student funding for up to 2 conferences per year. Additional
potential sources of funding, such as full tuition waivers for Year One and
research fellowships, are competitively available through the Graduate
College.
Qualifications: MA/MS in Geography or related field. Excellent writing
skills and research experience is required. Experience with peer-reviewed
publication is highly desired.
Research Projects: Potential PhD research projects are: (1) Effect of land
management policies on water quality in New Zealand rivers [PI: Julian];
(2) Ecosystem services assessments in Texas or New Zealand [PI: Julian];
(3) Supply, demand, and governance of protected areas in the U.S. [PIs:
Julian or Weaver]; (4) Quantifying river system alterations and developing
flow-ecology criteria for environmental flow applications [PIs: Meitzen and
Jensen]; (5) Examining geomorphic and riparian response to catastrophic
flooding in the greater Guadalupe River Basin [PI: Meitzen]; (6) Landscape
and vegetation response to human and physical drivers of change [PIs:
Jensen and Schwinning] (7) Remote sensing of vegetation phenology [PI:
Currit]; (8) Urban land-cover dynamics along the US-Mexico border [PI:
Currit]; (9) Comparative analysis of cooperative and non-cooperative multi-
jurisdictional land use management regimes [PI: Weaver]; (10) Analyzing the
roles of social norms and conventions in the maintenance and upkeep of
neighborhood-level common-pool resources [PI: Weaver]
Location: Texas State University is located in the beautiful Hill Country
of San Marcos, 30 miles south of Austin and 45 miles north of San Antonio.
San Marcos is a college town with many natural and cultural amenities.
Texas State University is an emerging research university with
approximately 38,000 students. The Department of Geography has 104 graduate
students and 34 full-time faculty with interests that span the spectrum of
Geography. More information on the Department can be found at:
http://www.geo.txstate.edu/.
Contact: Please send a CV, one-page statement of research interests that
includes which project interests you, contact information for three
references, refereed publications, and GRE scores to the PI of the project
you are interested by January 4, 2016. You can also contact the PI for
additional information about any of the projects: Dr. Nate Currit
(currit@txstate.edu), Dr. Jennifer Jensen (jjensen@txstate.edu), Dr. Jason
Julian (jason.julian@txstate.edu), Dr. Kimberly Meitzen
(kmeitzen@txstate.edu), and Dr. Rusty Weaver (rcweaver@txstate.edu).
For information on the Land Change and Ecosystem Science (LanCES) research
network at Texas State University, visit
http://www.landchangescience.txstate.edu/. For information on the graduate
program in the Department of Geography, visit
http://www.geo.txstate.edu/prospective-students/prospective-graduates.html.
To be fully considered for assistantships and fellowships, the
Department’s full application deadline is January 15.