Now Hiring: One, Funded PhD Student

December 16, 2022

Job Summary

One fully funded PhD research assistantship is available to join the SpaSES lab at Boise State University to work on a variety of potential projects including:

  • Implications of governance preferences for species conservation: Potential projects will draw on a survey of over 25,000 North American residents regarding their perceptions of and preferences for wildlife governance to examine how beliefs regarding the role of government in wildlife management affect conservation strategies for specific species and geographies.

  • Characterizing institutional fragmentation: Potential projects will draw on the existing literature regarding the impacts and characterization of ecological fragmentation to examine the role of institutional fragmentation in the conservation of wildlife connectivity.

  • Wildlife conflict and public discourse. Potential projects will integrate qualitative analysis of public documents (e.g., newspapers, environmental assessment comments, press releases) with natural language processing to characterize common themes of human-wildlife conflict and map their spatial footprint across the US and southern Canada.

About the Program

Students will be advised by Dr. Matt Williamson and join the Human-Environment Systems community, a group of faculty, researchers, and students committed to trans-disciplinary, team-based, actionable research that addresses real-world environmental challenges.

Minimum Qualifications

  • Master of Science or Arts (MS or MA) in Ecology, Biology, Conservation, Geography, Environmental Policy, or a related field

  • Strong quantitative skills, including:

    • Proficiency with R, Stan, Julia, or other statistical/geospatial programming languages
    • Demonstrated ability to deploy and interpret hierarchical statistical models as a tool for inference.

  • Interest in combining theories and methodologies from social and environmental science disciplines.

  • Stakeholder engagement is an important part of the project, so experience with, and/or a desire to gain, transdisciplinary, actionable science skills is also required.

Preferred Qualifications

  • Demonstrated research success through peer-reviewed publications and/or other communication materials

  • The desire to further develop expertise in data science and computational methods including natural language processing, topic modeling, statistical classification, and spatial modeling.

  • Familiarity with environmental policy concerns and conflicts within the region is also desirable.

Salary and Benefits

This position includes support in the form of a graduate assistantship (renewable, 12-month stipend ($28.000 - $31,000 depending on qualifications)), tuition and fee waiver, and health insurance.

Required Application Materials

Applicants should send (via email to Matt Williamson a CV, unofficial transcripts, contact information for 3 references, and a cover letter. The cover letter should state which position you are interested in and why, as well as if/how you meet each of the qualifications listed above. Please address each of the relevant minimum and preferred qualifications in turn directly (a bulleted list is fine). Applications should be sent as a single pdf to Matt Williamson with “PhD Application” in the subject line. Review of documents will begin on a rolling basis and will continue until finalists are identified to formally apply to the selected graduate program at Boise State.

For finalists, a formal application to the Graduate College (including official transcripts) will be due May 15, 2023. All admission decisions must be approved by the Graduate Dean. Boise State University embraces and welcomes diversity in its faculty, student body, and staff. Accordingly, applicants who would add to the diversity and excellence of our academic community are encouraged to apply.

About Boise State

Boise State University, powered by creativity and innovation, stands uniquely positioned in the Northwest as a metropolitan research university of distinction. Learn more about Boise State and the City of Boise. Boise State University is committed to increasing the diversity of its faculty, staff, students, and academic program offerings and to strengthening sensitivity to diversity throughout the institution. Boise State University is an affirmative action/equal opportunity employer, and members of historically underrepresented groups are especially encouraged to apply. We are a welcoming campus that supports diversity and inclusion.