Seeking a highly motivated and qualified student to explore the net short-term impact and longterm recovery on key soil biophysical, hydraulic, and chemical characteristics from high severity wildfires and low severity prescribed bums at the University of Idaho in Moscow. This assessment will be based on extensive field-based burn experiments and soil characterization. This characterization will then be used to parameterize and assess the ability of the WEPPcloud (https://wepp.cloud/weppcloud/) to capture post-fire runoff and erosion response following wildfire. The student will be joining a large research team focused on the development of geospatial decision support tools for pre-fire and post-fire watershed management and close collaboration with the USDA-Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station and soil scientists from the USDA-NRCS.
Qualifications: Applicants for the PhD position will have an undergraduate and MS graduate degree in hydrology, water resources, soils, agronomy, environmental chemistry, civil/agricultural engineering, environmental engineering, or a related field. The successful candidate will be familiar with field and lab-based experimentation, strong background in soils and hydrology, familiarity with process-based hydrologic modeling preferably WEPP, WEPPcloud, water quality, GIS/remote sensing, and basic statistics. The student is expected to have excellent verbal and written communication skills. We highly encourage motivated students eager to gain a deeper understanding wildfire impacts and forest management and are willing to work interactively in team research to apply for this assistantship.
Financial support: The successful candidate will receive tuition support and stipend, and financial support to participate to a relevant conference each year.
Location: The research will be primarily conducted in Moscow, Idaho.
Timeline: Review of applicants will start immediately and continue until the position is filled. Starting dates can be flexible but preferable by spring semester or early summer 2022.
To apply: Please send the following materials to Dr. Erin Brooks: Personal Statement, Curriculum Vitae, Unofficial Transcripts, contact info of three references.