Type of position: Graduate Student
Functional title: MS student
Department: Entomology
College: CALS
Appointment Period: Beginning August, 2022 (late May – early June 2022)
Virginia Tech Entomology and the Jones Center at Ichauway are recruiting one MS student for a collaborative study to examine how wetland wetting and drying dynamics affect aquatic invertebrate composition and function. This will be in collaboration with Sally Entrekin (aquatic entomology, Virginia Tech), Kier Klepzig (entomology, Jones Center, and Center Director), and Steve Golladay (aquatic biology, Jones Center) on research that requires basic knowledge of aquatic ecology, experience with ecological field work, and a willingness to work under sometimes harsh environmental conditions (heat, humidity, gnats, etc.).
If interested, please contact Sally Entrekin (sallye@vt.edu), with your CV, a one-page research statement describing your previous research experiences and interest, and the names and contacts of three references by the end of January, 2022. The Department of Entomology has a rolling deadline; therefore, applications to the graduate school can be submitted after discussing the position. However, because students will be expected to gain field experience as wage employees in late May/early June 2022 at the Jones Center; we request applications by the end of January. If the student is accepted into the graduate program, financial support and tuition will be in the form of teaching and/or research assistantships. Housing at the Jones Center will be provided free of charge while the student is working and researching onsite. For details, please see: https://www.ento.vt.edu/academic-programs/graduate.html.
More about the associated research programs:
The Aquatic Entomology lab at Virginia Tech led by Sally Entrekin aims to understand how aquatic macroinvertebrates process and transfer material in streams and wetlands. Our research quantifies how macroinvertebrate communities and their functions change in response to human activities to inform ecosystem anthropogenic alterations. Current research focuses on how watershed fragmentation, agriculture, urbanization, and mining legacies affect water quality and habitat that interact to alter macroinvertebrate community structure and their functions.
Kier Klepzig is the Center Director and leads the Entomology program with interests that include forest entomology, forest pathology, mycology and insect and microbial diversity. The Aquatic Biology lab at the Jones Center led by Stephen Golladay study the ecology of streams and wetlands, the impact of human land use on water quality and aquatic invertebrates, and the impact of variation in hydrology on ecological processes and aquatic communities.