Jobs:Job-00047

PhD Position in Li Reactive Water Group at Penn State University

Pennsylvania State University, Pennsylvania, United States
Apply before: 4 January 2020

Posting:

Position:

PhD opportunity

Apply before:

4 January 2020

Graduate PhD positions are available for Fall 2020 admission in Li Reactive Water Group in the Dept. Civil & Environmental Engineering at the Pennsylvania State University, University Park. We are looking for motivated students who are interested in understanding temporal and spatial patterns of water quality and quantity in systems as small as catchments to as large as largest river basins and global scale. In particular, we ask questions about how climate change and human activities (e.g., urbanization, and agriculture) influence surface and groundwater resources and quality. We are interested the temporal and spatial dynamics of carbon, nutrients, and contaminants such as metals, how they are produced and exported out of terrestrial systems, and how they alter water resources and quality. We use a suite of research tools, including lab-based experiments, field study within teams, and process-based modeling tools. All projects are in collaborative settings with multiple PIs at and / or beyond Penn State. Our field sites include, for example, Coal Creek, Colorado; Sleepers River, Vermont; Konza Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER), Kansas; and a few pristine and agriculture sites in Pennsylvania within the Susquehanna Shale Hills Critical Zone Observatory. Although students will be stationed at Penn State, there will be plenty of opportunities to interact with collaborative PIs including Pamela Sullivan (Oregon State Univ.), Julia Perdrial (Univ. Vermont), Crystal Gene-Hua Ng (Univ. Minnesota), and Susan Brantley (Penn State). Students are also encouraged to travel to field sites and work with collaborators in US and Europe.

Students with background in hydrology (water resources), geosciences (e.g., biogeochemistry, geochemistry, geography), engineering (e.g., civil and environmental engineering, chemical engineering, agricultural and biological engineering, applied math) are welcomed to apply. Computational and / or GIS and / or statistics skills are valued but not required.

The current deadline for application is Jan. 4th, 2020. Interested students are encouraged to contact Dr. Li at lili 'at' engr.psu.edu before the application deadline with information on research experiences and interests, motivations to pursue a graduate degree, and career aspirations. Please include a current CV and unofficial academic transcripts. More information about the Li Reactive Water lab (http://LiReactiveWater.com) can be found on the website (http://mzimmer.weebly.com/).

Of interest for:

Hydrology Focus Research Group