PhD Student Opening: Small Mammal Community Dynamics

Interested in understanding how ecological systems change through time? Morgan Ernest's Lab at the University of Florida has an opening for a PhD student to start Fall 2025. The new student will work with our long-term field site in Portal, Arizona to study biodiversity dynamics of mammals and plants to understand and predict changes in species abundances and biodiversity in response to changing climate and biotic conditions. The position is funded in part to conduct monthly small mammal field work at the long-term site, so if you want a PhD position that will both improve your quantitative skills and do regular fieldwork, this position is perfect for you!  The student will have the opportunity to develop their own research interests using the field site's nearly 50 year dataset from an ongoing experiment on mammals and plants. Prior experience with small mammal trapping is not required, but prior field experience and an interest in working with small mammals is important.

The student would be a member of the Weecology research group. Weecology is a partnership between the Ernest Lab, which tends to be more field and community ecology oriented and the White Lab, which tends to be more quantitatively and computationally oriented. The Weecology group supports and encourages students interested in a variety of career paths. Former weecologists are currently employed as data scientists in tech and at research centers, as scientists with NGOs, and as faculty at both research and teaching-focused institutions. We are also committed to supporting and training a diverse scientific workforce. Current and former group members encompass a variety of racial and ethnic backgrounds from the U.S. and other countries, members of the LGBTQIA+ community, military veterans, people with disabilities, and students who are the first generation in their family to go to college. We work hard to create a supportive and inclusive lab environment and expect all members of Weecology to abide by the lab code of conduct (https://www.weecology.org/lab-wiki/code-of-conduct/)

Salary starts at $29,500/year (0.5 FTE), with health insurance and a full tuition waiver. More information about the group is available through: 1) the weecology website; 2) the Portal Project website; 4) our wiki; and 5) our blog. 

Review will begin October 25th, 2024. Interested students should email Dr. Morgan Ernest (skmorgane@ufl.edu) with 1) a CV and 2) a personal statement containing information on your past research experience (what types of experiences have you had and what you enjoyed about them), your future research interests (what topics really excite you and make you want to learn more?), and what are you hoping your graduate experience will provide you? A paragraph on each is sufficient!