PhD position in Aquatic Physiological & Behavioral Ecology
School of Environment and Natural Resources
The Ohio State University
October 2017
The Gray and Pintor Labs at The Ohio State University’s School of
Environment and Natural Resources are seeking a PhD student to work on
an NSF funded project starting in Autumn 2018 (with the possibility of
a pre-enrollment field season in Summer 2018). The project aims to
determine the key drivers and functional significance of sensory and
behavioral trait divergence in an African cichlid facing human-induced
rapid environmental change (HIREC). Research in Dr. Suzanne Gray’s
lab aims to understand how fish respond to HIREC, while Dr. Lauren
Pintor’s lab focuses on the examining the behavioral mechanisms
driving species interactions in the face of environmental change.
We are seeking highly qualified students with competitive GPA and GRE
scores, experience working in aquatic ecosystems, and who are highly
motivated to pursue an advanced degree in this field. The successful
candidate will tackle field and lab based experiments that include
behavioral and physiological performance tests of fish from different
populations that are experiencing different human-induced environmental
stressors. In the laboratory, we conduct long-term rearing experiments
to help disentangle the role of multiple stressors in shaping divergent
sensory and behavioral traits. This means that the student will be
expected to spend up to two months each year performing field work in
Uganda, Africa, with the rest of the year based in Columbus, Ohio.
Field work in Uganda can be extremely rewarding but can also be
strenuous: our facilities are very basic (e.g., we have intermittent
electricity and no running water) and are shared with a number of other
researchers.
The School of Environment and Natural Resources (SENR) is home to ~45
faculty whose specialties range across several natural and social
science disciplines. Within a framework of interdisciplinarity, our
graduate students take courses that advance their knowledge within
their chosen field but also introduce them to diverse fields integral
to a holistic understanding of human-natural coupled systems. Students
benefit from bi-weekly seminar speakers across this range of fields,
funds for travel to conferences, access to computer labs and
discipline-specific advanced courses across the University. Columbus is
a vibrant and progressive city with lots to do, great food, access to a
series of Metro Parks and rivers, and an easy drive to Lake Erie in the
North or hiking in Hocking Hills to the south.
Interested students should contact Dr. Suzanne Gray (gray.1030@osu.edu)
and Dr. Lauren Pintor (pintor.6@osu.edu) directly via email, with
“Graduate position” as the subject line. Please include a cover
letter briefly describing your research interests, a curriculum vitae,
GRE scores, unofficial undergraduate/graduate transcripts, and contact
information for three references – preferably as a single PDF. Review
of applicants will begin immediately. Qualified applicants will be
invited to apply to SENR by January 1st, 2018 (November 30^th for
international students). SENR offers graduate teaching and research
assistantships and competitive fellowships to support admitted students
(http://senr.osu.edu/graduate/prospective-graduate-students). We are
committed to increasing diversity in STEM and so encourage students
from diverse and underrepresented communities to apply.
Suzanne M. Gray
Assistant Professor
School of Environment and Natural Resources
The Ohio State University CFAES
210 Kottman Hall
2021 Coffey Rd, Columbus, OH, 43210
Phone: 614-292-4643
Email: gray.1030@osu.edu
“Gray, Suzanne M.” <gray.1030@osu.edu>