Ph. D. position with
Jeff Houlahan’s lab in the Department of Biological Sciences/The Canadian
Rivers Institute, University of New Brunswick Saint John (UNB Saint John).
The Houlahan lab is looking for a Ph.D. student interested in
fundamental questions in population and/or community ecology to begin in the
fall of 2017 (although later start dates could be negotiated). We are happy to hear from students with a
wide range of interests - some examples
of topics include (i) the relationship between diversity and stability, (ii)
the relative importance of density dependent effects on population dynamics,
and (iii) the stability of competitive hierarchies in nature but we are less
concerned about the question than the approach.
The approach would involve developing theoretical and/or statistical
models that would then be tested on new data (see Houlahan et al. 2017 in
Oikos) to assess the predictive ability of those models and how predictive
ability changes over time and space. The
successful applicant will have strong quantitative skills, and more
particularly, be somebody who is comfortable analyzing data and modeling in something
like R or Python. Students will have an
opportunity to improve their analytical and modeling skills, become better
grounded in basic ecology theory, and improve writing, logical thinking and
problem-solving abilities. We are
interested in ecology, environmental science, computer science and/or
mathematics students. Funding of at
least $21,000/year is guaranteed for 4 years and comes from TA’ships, RA’ships
and scholarships.
The University of New
Brunswick is a comprehensive university with campuses in Saint John and
Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada with approximately 10,000 students. The Houlahan lab is part of the Department of
Biological Sciences and The Canadian Rivers Institute at the Saint John campus. This is a vibrant department with a focus on
aquatic and marine biology and more than 50 graduate students. Saint John is a small (pop – 68,000) attractive,
coastal city in southern New Brunswick.
If you are interested in the position drop me a note at jeffhoul@unb.ca and attach your cv, transcripts (unofficial
or official) and 3 references with contact info.
Expiry date: July 1, 2017.
