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Employment > Graduate/Undergraduate
Opportunities
Joint Graduate Research at the Stroud Water Research Center and University of Delaware
We are seeking highly motivated Ph.D. students to study interactions among
organic molecules, metals, minerals, and organisms and to scale these processes
to soil, watershed, regional and global-scale carbon sequestration. Under these
themes, several dissertation projects are available, including (1)
erosion-driven watershed-scale carbon sequestration, (2) anthropogenic
acceleration of mineral production and weathering, (3) effects of invasive soil
organisms to carbon-mineral interactions and dynamics, (4) mechanisms of abiotic
and biologically mediated organo-mineral complexation and consequences to
organic matter composition.
Selected applicants will be co-advised by
Anthony Aufdenkampe at Stroud Water Research Center and
Kyungsoo Yoo at University of Delaware. Our combined expertise includes
terrestrial to aquatic carbon cycle, organic geochemistry, stable isotope
biogeochemistry, soil formation, hillslope geomorphology, and modeling. We also
collaborate closely with a network of outstanding scientists with whom graduate
students might also interact extensively. In addition to the experience and
interests in the cycles of carbon, minerals, and metals, both of us share strong
enthusiasm in mentoring graduate students and educating the next generation of
earth/environmental scientists who are versatile in connecting and communicating
across temporal and spatial scales, across field, laboratory, and modeling
approaches, and across different disciplines.
Qualifications include a BS and/or MS that provides both a strong background
in a field of earth, environmental, or ecological science and a strong
background in chemistry, geochemistry or biogeochemistry. If you are interested,
please contact one or both of us to further discuss possible dissertation
research. Then follow the procedure described in the
fellowship announcement below. Make sure you indicate your interest in
Aufdenkampe-Yoo joint program in your letter of application and statement of
research.
Graduate Student Fellowships at the Ph.D level for students matriculating in
the Spring or Fall 2008 semesters are available through the
newly-formed
Center for Critical
Zone Research (CCZR) and the
Institute of
Soil and Environmental Quality (ISEQ), both interdisciplinary environmental
centers of excellence at the University of Delaware. Students have the
opportunity to conduct cutting-edge, cross-disciplinary research in
environmental sciences and engineering with distinguished faculty in marine and
earth studies, soil science, chemistry, physics, environmental microbiology,
engineering, and materials science. First-rate laboratory and field facilities
are available, along with state-of-the-art core facilities in microscopy,
spectroscopy, and biotechnology. Students also have the opportunity to conduct
research and internships at national laboratories, state agencies, and nearby
industries and environmental centers/institutes. Research areas of particular
interest are: mineral/microbe/metal and plant/soil interactions and impacts on
contaminant cycling and transformation, carbon-metal-mineral interactions and
effects on C cycling, stabilization, and sequestration: the role of microbial
communities in remineralization and impacts on environmental events such as
algal blooms and fish kills; transport of nanoparticles in the critical zone;
biogeochemical mechanisms that control concentrations and fluxes of nutrients,
metals, organic chemicals, and pathogens in the CZ and nearby marine
environments; mechanisms of particle formation in coastal regions, including
nucleation bursts, and impacts on the local and global environment; interactions
of particles, emitted from industrial and agricultural sources, with
contaminants and microbes and effects on ecosystem and human health; and
development of sensor technology to predict environmental events and processes.
Each fellowship will provide an annual stipend of $22,000 for up to three years
and an additional $3000 per year for travel to scientific meetings and for other
professional development enrichment activities.
Interested students should electronically submit a letter of application,
statement of research interest, grade transcripts, GRE and TOEFL scores, and
three letters of reference by December 31, 2007 to:
Dr. Amy Broadhurst
Center for Critical Zone Research
University of Delaware
Delaware Biotechnology Institute
15 Innovation Way
Newark, DE 19711
Email: als@udel.edu
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