July 30, 2010
We have a postdoc position available for someone interested in the general areas of macroecology, quantitative ecology, and ecoinformatics. Here’s the short ad with links to the full job description:
Ethan White’s lab at Utah State University is looking for a postdoc to collaborate on research studying approaches for unifying macroecological patterns (e.g., species abundance distributions and species-area relationships) and predicting variation in these patterns using ecological and environmental variables. The project aims to 1) evaluate the performance of models that link ecological patterns by using broad scale data on at least three major taxonomic groups (birds, plants, and mammals); and 2) combine models with ecological and environmental factors to explain continental scale variation in community structure. Models to be explored include maximum entropy models, neutral models, fractal based models, and statistical models. The postdoc will also be involved in an ecoinformatics initiative developing tools to facilitate the use of existing ecological data. There will be ample opportunity for independent and collaborative research in related areas of macroecology, community ecology, theoretical ecology, and ecoinformatics. The postdoc will benefit from interactions with researchers in Dr. White’s lab, the Weecology Interdisciplinary Research Group, and with Dr. John Harte’s lab at the University of California Berkeley. Applicants from a variety of backgrounds including ecology, mathematics, statistics, physics and computer science are encouraged to apply. The position is available for 1 year with the possibility for renewal depending on performance, and could begin as early as September 2010 and no later than May 2011. Applications will begin to be considered starting on September 1, 2010. Go to the USU job page to see the full advertisement and to apply.
If you’re interested in the position and are planning to be at ESA please leave a comment or drop me an email (ethan.white@usu.edu) and we can try to set up a time to talk while we’re in Pittsburgh. Questions about the position and expressions of interest are also welcome.
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computers, data, ecology, jobs, math, programming, science, statistics | 
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Posted by Ethan
February 11, 2010
Imperial College London is offering a new masters degree program in quantitative biology. It sounds like a great opportunity to get some good quantitative training via an intensive 1 year MS program. The best part of their pitch follows below. If you’d like to see the whole ad check out the flier that Dan Reuman sent me.
Over the past 10-20 years, biology has become increasingly quantitative, and mathematical sciences have in turn been increasingly influenced by biology. It has been said that “mathematics is biology’s next microscope, only better” (Cohen, J.E., PloS Biology, 2004) because mathematical, statistical, and computational sciences will continue to reveal unsuspected and entirely new worlds within biology, just as the microscope revealed previously unseen worlds following its invention. It has also been said that “biology is mathematics’ next physics, only better” (Cohen, J.E., PloS Biology, 2004) because biology will in turn continue to spur major new developments in computation, mathematics and statistics, just as physics has done in the past several hundred years.
Recognizing this integration, the MSc in Quantitative Biology provides students of life sciences with the quantitative skills they will need to thrive in the modern discipline of biology, and provides students from a more quantitative background with the biological insight they need to apply their technical skills. The course is unique in integrating important current research questions in biology with data from ecosystems down to cells and state-of-the-art quantitative methods. Graduates will be highly trained scientists prepared for employment in any of several settings, including as PhD students in universities and institutes worldwide; in the research departments of multinational industries concerned with the environment (e.g., pharmaceuticals, biotechnology); in conservation, management and agricultural agencies; and in local and national governments.
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Posted by Ethan
December 2, 2009
I went to graduate school with Ford and would strongly recommend that those looking for PhD opportunities on the quantitative side of ecosystem ecology consider the opportunity below. Ford is a smart guy, doing cool work, and he knows an awful lot about math, so it’s probably pretty hard to go wrong (and yes, we’re still friends so I’m totally biased).
The Ballantyne Lab at the University of Kansas is looking to recruit up to two graduate students for the fall of 2010. Current research is focused on modeling ecosystem stoichiometry, nutrient dynamics, microbial decomposition of soil carbon, systems-level regulation of metabolism, spatially explicit populations and the trophic structure of communities. Although most of our experiments are performed with phytoplankton and bacteria in the lab, the KU field station, 20 minutes from campus, is a great resource that is home to long-term studies of community assembly. Please direct inquiries to Ford Ballantyne (fb4 [at] ku [dot] edu). For more information about graduate study in the lab and EEB at KU please look at http://www.people.ku.edu/~fb4 and http://www2.ku.edu/%7Eeeb/graduate/ and http://www.kuerg.ku.edu/.
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Posted by Ethan
Ethan
Morgan
Morgan & Ethan