Freshwater Science Jobs & Opportunities

The Cooperative Institute for Great Lakes Research (CIGLR) at the University of Michigan is seeking a highly motivated candidate for a Postdoctoral Fellow position. The successful candidate will play a key role in our dynamic research team and contribute to developing cutting edge tools for environmental DNA (eDNA) analysis for monitoring invasive species and toxin-producing cyanobacteria species in the Great Lakes. The project objectives include development of eDNA-based high throughput quantitative PCR (HT-qPCR) assays and metabarcoding assays for conservation and management of species of interest in the Great Lakes.

The Environmental Assessment Program within the Department of Ecology is looking to fill two Watershed Health Monitoring Environmental Specialist 1 positions for the Summer 2024 field season. In this role, you will conduct environmental sampling and support the Watershed Health Monitoring field leads by assisting in the organization of day-to-day data collection activities in the field. You will also aid in training the environmental technicians involved in this project. Some of the key work activities include: hiking, field navigation, biological monitoring, water quality sampling, habitat surveys, and using different types of monitoring equipment. The information that you collect will help assess the condition of streams and watersheds.

The Stream Ecology lab at the Illinois Natural History Survey is seeking up to 7 research technicians to conduct bioassessments of aquatic life in streams and rivers in Illinois. Research technicians will work on a crew of 2 – 5 people assisting Stream Ecologists with field surveys. Field responsibilities include conducting fish surveys in wadeable streams and non-wadeable rivers, collecting macroinvertebrate samples, conducting habitat assessments, and water chemistry testing. When not in the field, research technicians conduct laboratory work including data entry, aging fish, macroinvertebrate sorting, and assistance with current research projects.

The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee School of Freshwater Sciences has been conducting research on nearshore benthic ecology in Lake Michigan for more than two decades. Specific research topics include benthic algae ecology, nutrient cycling by invasive dreissenids, nearshore trophic dynamics, community metabolism, and mechanisms responsible for avian botulism outbreaks. We are searching for a Post-Doctoral Associate who can help further this research through analysis of a large, multidisciplinary data set, augmented with continuing field research.