Graduate Position Available in Aquatic Ecology at Penn State University

We are recruiting a MS/PhD student interested in restoration ecology to work on a new project funded by the Chesapeake Bay Trust Pooled Monitoring Initiative’s Restoration Research Award Program. Stream restoration projects do not often achieve the desired ecological uplift of restoring benthic macroinvertebrate biodiversity, and our project seeks to evaluate the potential of using benthic macroinvertebrate translocations from pristine streams to restored streams in restoring macroinvertebrate biodiversity in a manipulative field experiment. The student would work with faculty at Penn State and University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science and project stakeholders at the Chesapeake Bay Trust, the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, and Anne Arundel County. The student would have the opportunity to learn new techniques, or build upon existing skill sets, in using morphological methods to identify benthic macroinvertebrates and/or using novel methods of biodiversity assessment with eDNA metabarcoding.

Funds are available to fully support either a MS for two years or a PhD student for four years, including a competitive stipend and medical, dental, and vision insurance. The graduate student would be physically housed in the Department of Ecosystem of Science and Management at Penn State (https://ecosystems.psu.edu/) and be co-advised by Daniel Allen (www.allenlab.org) and Jon Sweetman (www.jonsweetman.com). Students can apply to the either the Intercollegiate Graduate Degree Program in Ecology through Penn State’s Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences (https://www.huck.psu.edu/graduate-programs/ecology) or the ESM’s Wildlife and Fisheries Science Graduate Program (https://ecosystems.psu.edu/graduate/wfs), depending on their interest. The graduate student would begin enrollment in the Fall 2024, but we have funds to allow the student to begin working on the project beginning in Summer 2024, which is preferred.

Interested applicants are encouraged to complete this google form (https://forms.gle/FGwWk8aQCpPmhTEX9), which includes the submission of a CV/resume and a cover letter that describes their prior academic and professional experience, their interest in the position, and a description of how this graduate opportunity aligns with their career goals. Please contact daniel.c.allen@psu.edu for any other questions.