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Position Summary:
Postdoctoral Associate in Freshwater Carbon Cycling
A new position for a postdoctoral research associate will be available in the Carey Lab, a vibrant, highly collaborative, interdisciplinary research team working in freshwater ecosystem science at Virginia Tech. This position will be part of a new NSF project that will study the effects of changing dissolved oxygen availability on carbon cycling in local drinking water reservoirs. This project will address the overarching question: How will increasingly variable oxygen concentrations, due to land use and climate change, alter carbon processing and greenhouse gas emissions in freshwater ecosystems? To address this question, the research team will use whole-ecosystem experiments, high-frequency sensor monitoring, and modeling. The position start date will be flexible, aiming to start in Spring/Summer 2019. The position will be for two years, contingent upon a successful one-year review.
We will be seeking a creative and highly collaborative Ph.D. with significant quantitative research experience in freshwater science and biogeochemistry, especially data analysis and ecosystem modeling. The successful applicant will work with graduate students and faculty to address fundamental questions surrounding the effects of changing oxygen availability on ecosystem dynamics in lakes and reservoirs. Research activities will include: helping to oversee whole-ecosystem oxygenation experiments in which we will switch a reservoir, on demand, between oxic and anoxic conditions to study carbon processing in different redox environments; analyzing field data; using ecosystem simulation models to study the fate of carbon entering reservoirs on minute to decade time scales; and collaborating with reservoir managers and scientists from other universities.
Anticipated start date: 3/1/2019

Required Qualifications:
-PhD in freshwater ecology, ecosystem science or related field
-Experience in aquatic science and biogeochemistry
-Significant quantitative research experience and data analysis

Preferred Qualifications:
-Experience working with lake/reservoir ecosystem simulation models
-Experience studying dissolved organic matter/carbon dynamics
-Experience in R or other programming languages (e.g., Matlab, C, Python)
-Experience in publishing peer-reviewed journal articles
-Demonstrated ability to work in interdisciplinary collaborative teams
-Experience with automated high-frequency water quality sensor deployment and maintenance
-Interest in developing new teaching modules for undergraduate students using water quality sensor data (see MacrosystemsEDDIE.org)
-Experience working with managers
-Experience with water quality sampling of aquatic ecosystems and using boats



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