11/15/2013
Grad School Opportunity
I have funding for two masters students to work as part of a team building multi-millennial temperature reconstructions using fine-scale topographic data and remote sensing to model the climate-sensitivity of high-elevation bristlecone pines in the Great Basin. Full funding is available through a mixture of research and teaching assistantships. The ideal students will be independent, highly motivated, and possess research and field experience. The ability to do remote fieldwork at high elevation is a must as is prior experience with GIS or Remote Sensing. Prior experience with dendrochronology is desired but not necessary. The students will get to work with a fantastic team of collaborators from the University of Arizona.
Interested students should contact me ([email protected]) with an email that gives short description of prior research and field experience as well as GPA and GRE scores (if taken).
Visit the Huxley Tree-Ring Lab webpage to learn more about the research going on in the lab as well as the MSc programs at Huxley:
http://huxley.wwu.edu/huxley-tree-ring-laboratory
http://huxley.wwu.edu/graduate-programs
The students would most likely be admitted to the environmental sciences program but geography is possible for the right candidate.
Further Reading:
A popular science article describing the GIS aspects of this research is available here:
http://www.esri.com/esri-news/arcnews/winter1213articles/gis-and-ancient-trees-reveal-past-temperatures-and-climate-change
Two recent peer-reviewed papers of interest are:
Salzer, M.W., Bunn, A.G., Graham, N.E., and M.K. Hughes. 2013. Five millennia of paleotemperature from tree-rings and treeline change in the Great Basin USA. Climate Dynamics. doi: 10.1007/s00382-013-1911-9.
http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs00382-013-1911-9
Bunn, A.G., M.K. Hughes, and M.W. Salzer. 2011. Topographically modified tree-ring chronologies as a potential means to improve paleoclimate inference. Climatic Change. doi: 10.1007/s10584-010-0005-5.
http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10584-010-0005-5
About Western and Huxley:
Western Washington University is ranked as the top public comprehensive university in the Pacific Northwest. With about 15,000 students, WWU is located in beautiful Bellingham, close to both the Cascade Mountains and the Salish Sea; it is about midway between Seattle, Washington and Vancouver, British Columbia. Its mission is to serve the State of Washington and beyond by bringing together individuals of diverse backgrounds and perspectives in an inclusive, student-centered university that develops the potential of learners and the well-being of communities. Western’s Huxley College of the Environment is the oldest interdisciplinary environmental studies college in the U.S. It is known nationally and internationally for its excellence in educating the next generation of environmental leaders. Huxley’s academic programs reflect a broad view of the physical, biological, social and cultural world.
The Huxley Tree Ring Laboratory (HTRL) is a research unit within Western Washington University’s Huxley College of the Environment created in 2006. Members of the lab do tree-ring research projects around the globe and have created a broad collection of chronologies spanning the Pacific Northwest re...
