PhD student opportunities in Land Change Science, Water Resources, River Processes, and Land Use Policy -- Department of Geography, Texas State University



Position Description: The Land Change and Ecosystem Science (LanCES) research network at Texas State University seeks PhD students to participate in a variety of research projects. Funding opportunities exist for Graduate Assistantships at the Doctoral level (,000 over 9 months, renewable up to 4 years). These assistantships come with a waiver of out-of-state tuition and access to health benefits. In addition, the Department provides student funding for up to 2 conferences per year. Additional potential sources of funding, such as full tuition waivers for Year One and research fellowships, are competitively available through the Graduate College.

Qualifications: MA/MS in Geography or related field. Excellent writing skills and research experience is required. Experience with peer-reviewed publication is highly desired.

Research Projects: Potential PhD research projects are: (1) Effect of land management policies on water quality in New Zealand rivers [PI: Julian]; (2) Ecosystem services assessments in Texas or New Zealand [PI: Julian]; (3) Supply, demand, and governance of protected areas in the U.S. [PIs: Julian or Weaver]; (4) Quantifying river system alterations and developing flow-ecology criteria for environmental flow applications [PIs: Meitzen and Jensen]; (5) Examining geomorphic and riparian response to catastrophic flooding in the greater Guadalupe River Basin [PI: Meitzen]; (6) Landscape and vegetation response to human and physical drivers of change [PIs: Jensen and Schwinning] (7) Remote sensing of vegetation phenology [PI: Currit]; (8) Urban land-cover dynamics along the US-Mexico border [PI: Currit]; (9) Comparative analysis of cooperative and non-cooperative multi-jurisdictional land use management regimes [PI: Weaver]; (10) Analyzing the roles of social norms and conventions in the maintenance and upkeep of neighborhood-level common-pool resources [PI: Weaver]



Location: Texas State University is located in the beautiful Hill Country of San Marcos, 30 miles south of Austin and 45 miles north of San Antonio. San Marcos is a college town with many natural and cultural amenities. Texas State University is an emerging research university with approximately 38,000 students. The Department of Geography has 104 graduate students and 34 full-time faculty with interests that span the spectrum of Geography. More information on the Department can be found at: http://www.geo.txstate.edu/.



Contact: Please send a CV, one-page statement of research interests that includes which project interests you, contact information for three references, refereed publications, and GRE scores to the PI of the project you are interested by January 4, 2016. You can also contact the PI for additional information about any of the projects: Dr. Nate Currit (currit@txstate.edu), Dr. Jennifer Jensen (jjensen@txstate.edu), Dr. Jason Julian (jason.julian@txstate.edu), Dr. Kimberly Meitzen (kmeitzen@txstate.edu), and Dr. Rusty Weaver (rcweaver@txstate.edu).

For information on the Land Change and Ecosystem Science (LanCES) research network at Texas State University, visit http://www.landchangescience.txstate.edu/. For information on the graduate program in the Department of Geography, visit http://www.geo.txstate.edu/prospective-students/prospective-graduates.html. To be fully considered for assistantships and fellowships, the Department’s full application deadline is January 15, 2016.

currit@txstate.edu