Friday, April 3, 2020

MS position in Stream Ecology, San Juan River, SW USA

MS Position
River Fish Ecology
Department of Biology
Pittsburg State University
Pittsburg, KS

Position: Graduate research assistant (no teaching required)

Salary: $20,000 per year over 2.5 years (student will graduate in December 2022). Tuition is paid in full. Health insurance plan is available. Travel-related research expenses will be covered.

Closing date: April 10th. Start date: 01 June 2020.

Description: I am seeking a highly motivated student to investigate habitat characteristics (e.g., depth; turbidity; nonnative fish density) and resource availability (e.g., algal and macroinvertebrate biomass) in backwater habitats of the San Juan River in New Mexico, Colorado, and Utah. Backwaters are the preferred habitat of early life stages of the federally-endangered Razorback Sucker and Colorado Pikeminnow. Backwater attributes will be compared among secondary channel, island, and point bar backwaters to evaluate their quality as larval rearing habitat for these imperiled fishes. Furthermore, the relative availability of these different backwaters types is influenced by river flow, and as such this research has implications for environmental flows management and native fish conservation.

Qualifications: Bachelor of Science degree with an emphasis in stream ecology, aquatic sciences, or fisheries management. There is a large field component involving travel to and camping in remote locations, in addition to extended float trips on the San Juan River. The student should have experience working in lotic systems and familiarity with basic sampling methods.

Application: To apply, please send an e-mail to jewhitney@pittstate.edu   with a statement of interests and relevant qualifications. In addition, attach an updated CV with pertinent details (grades, GRE scores) and contact information for three references.

Dr. James Whitney
Email: jewhitney@pittstate.edu 
Phone: (620) 235-4735
University web page: https://www.pittstate.edu/biology/faculty-and-staff/james-whitney.html
Professional web page: https://jamesewhitney.weebly.com/

See https://www.pittstate.edu/biology/ for more information about the Department of Biology at Pittsburg State University.