Graduate Positions in Kelp Forest Ecology

The Byrnes Coastal Ecology Lab at UMass Boston (http://byrneslab.net) is currently seeking two graduate students (PhD preferably) for two different NASA funded projects to start in the fall of 2022. Both projects require some comfort or desire to learn comfort with computational techniques as well as opportunities for field work. Students will be given wide latitude within the framework of the projects to pursue their interests. For students interested in a subtidal research component, AAUS or equivalent experience is heavily preferred.

Students are asked to apply via the UMass Boston portal at https://admissions.umb.edu/graduate-students/apply and apply for either the Biology program (https://www.umb.edu/academics/csm/biology/grad) or the School for the Environment’s Environmental Sciences program (https://environment.umb.edu/graduate-programs/es-phd) depending on interests. For further guidance or information about the positions after reading the descriptions below, please don’t hesitate to contact me directly, although I will be limiting in depth discussion until after the application process. For more about the lab, see http://byrneslab.net/

Details of both positions are below:

Grad Student for Using Hyperspectral Imagery to Assess the Effects of Warming on New England Kelp Forests

The Byrnes and Schaaf labs at UMass Boston (http://byrneslab.net and https://www.umb.edu/spectralmass) are seeking a graduate student for the winter or fall of 2022 to work on a three year NASA funded project “Using Hyperspectral Imagery to Assess the Effects of Warming on New England Kelp Forests” as part of their dissertation. The position will entail 1) coordination with the project postdoc to validate classifications via SCUBA sampling, 2) expand classification of New England Kelp Forests using Citizen Science with the Floating Forests project (http://floatingforests.org), and 3) working on modeling kelp forest geospatial data with environmental predictors. There will be ample opportunities for independent directions within this framework as well. This work will form the foundation of the graduate student’s dissertation. The student position will be fully funded for three years at $33,000/year along with benefits. The PIs will work with the student to either secure additional funding after this period and/or supplement funding with TA-ships. Interested students are asked to email Jarrett Byrnes ([email protected]) with inquiries and a CV, and then apply via either the UMB Department of Biology (https://www.umb.edu/academics/csm/biology/grad) or School for the Environment (https://environment.umb.edu/graduate-programs) depending on interests. See http://byrneslab.net/prospective-students/ for more information for prospective graduate students in the Byrnes lab. Graduate applications are due January 2, 2022.

Grad Student for Vulnerability of Giant KelpPopulations to Climate Change

The Byrnes lab at UMass Boston (http://byrneslab.net) is seeking a graduate student for the fall of 2022 to work on two years of a NASA funded project “Vulnerability of giant kelp populations to climate change” as part of their dissertation. The position will entail 1) work with the project postdoc on developing deep learning approaches to kelp remote sensing data, 2) validating with machine-learning generated kelp classifications around the globe via the Citizen Science project Floating Forests (http://floatingforests.org), and 3) incorporating these results into ongoing curricula for teaching about kelp forests with citizen science. Students with interests in applying machine learning and deep learning techniques to ecological and remote sensing data are particularly encouraged to apply. There will be ample opportunities for independent directions within this framework as well. This work will form the foundation of the graduate student’s dissertation. The student position will be fully funded for three years at $33,000/year along with benefits. Prof. Byrnes will work with the student to either secure additional funding after this period and/or supplement funding with TA-ships. Interested students are asked to email Jarrett Byrnes ([email protected]) with inquiries and a CV, and then apply via either the UMB Department of Biology (https://www.umb.edu/academics/csm/biology/grad) or School for the Environment (https://environment.umb.edu/graduate-programs) depending on professional interests. See http://byrneslab.net/prospective-students/ for more information for prospective graduate students in the Byrnes lab. Graduate applications are due January 2, 2022.

Jarrett Byrnes
Associate Professor
Dept. of Biology
UMass Boston
401-529-4104
pronouns: he, him, his
http://byrneslab.net
@jebyrnes