Jobs:Job-01924

12 PhD Funded RAships at UAF CFOS for NSF GRFP Honorable Mention

University of Alaska Fairbanks, Alaska, United States
Apply before: 15 January 2026

Posting:

Position:

PhD positions

Apply before:

15 January 2026

We’re recruiting 12 PhD students at the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences (CFOS) to start May or August of 2026! The opportunity is NSF funded through EMERGE Alaska specifically for students who received an Honorable Mention on the NSF GRFP during the last 3 years. Apply by Jan 15, 2026. Students can choose to pursue their proposed GRFP research at UAF or choose a new research topic/field more closely alined to a faculty member.

Program Website: https://www.uaf.edu/cfos/academics/emerge-alaska/index.php

The successful candidates will join a cohort of CFOS oceanography students working on diverse interdisciplinary field, laboratory and numerical modeling research, as well as the broader UAF community, which includes other world leading research institutes: International Arctic Research Center (https://uaf-iarc.org), Geophysical Institute (https://gi.alaska.edu), and the Institute of Northern Engineering (https://ine.uaf.edu).

I am hoping to recruit one EMERGE Alaska student to join my lab group, the COASTal Dynamics Lab (Cryosphere, Ocean, and STream Lab), which researches ocean, land, and ice interactions by focusing on river-marine transitions and the role of human impacts. By differentiating effects of climate change, natural variability, and the built environment, our research advances our scientific understanding of flood risks, global warming impacts, and predicting environmental hazards/change. We work with and equip indigenous/local communities to steward their own lands and seas. The COASTal Dynamics Lab is in the College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences and a part of the UAF Sea Ice Group. The lab is led by Dr. Steven Dykstra and currently has 2 PhD students, 2 MS students and 1 postdoc. We have our own lab space in Fairbanks, AK with multiple shared spaces on campus and throughout the state. We are currently working on the following projects:

Ice-Tide RECON: Part 1: The role of ice on tidal dynamics in resonant and convergent estuaries/basins. Part 2: The role of vertical land motion during the 1964 Great Alaska Earthquake on Cook Inlet tides
The role of tide-river interactions on channel morphodynamics and backwater effects in America’s longest tidal river (Kuskowkim River)
Alaska Coastal Mapping Center of Excellence: topobathy LiDAR acquisition and associated research support (e.g., turbidity), development of authoritative data products/tools, and the dissemination of data with stakeholder trainings
Hazard resiliency as America expands its Arctic access port (Nome, Alaska), specifically: beach stability and tidal river flooding and erosion
ISOPS: The role of ocean circulation and freeze-up processes on coastal morphodynamics and landfast ice stability/destabilization. Collaborative team with several other associated projects focused on the Chukchi Shelf and beach near Utqiaġvik, AK.
More to begin soon!

If you received Honorable Mention on your GRFP and are interested joining us at UAF, please reach out to myself or one of the other potential mentors listed on the program webpage.

Cheers!
Steve

Steven L. Dykstra, PhD
Assistant Professor; Oceanography Dept.; College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences; University of Alaska Fairbanks; O’Neil 123
stevenldykstra@gmail.com

sdykstra@alaska.edu

Of interest for:

Terrestrial Working Group

Coastal Working Group

Marine Working Group

Hydrology Focus Research Group

Coastal Vulnerability Initiative