Grad Fellowships-UMass/Boston

[Ron Etter]

NSF GRADUATE RESEARCH TRAINEESHIPS IN ENVIRONMENTAL BIOLOGY:
CONSERVATION OF BIODIVERSITY 

BIOLOGY DEPARTMENT
UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS BOSTON 


         The National Science Foundation has awarded Graduate 
Research  Traineeships in Conservation of Biodiversity to the 
Department of Biology at the University of Massachusetts Boston 
as part of our Doctoral Program in  Environmental Biology.  We 
invite applications from individuals who are U.S.  citizens or 
permanent residents with undergraduate or masters degrees in  
Biology, Environmental Sciences, Geography, Conservation and 
related areas.   Individuals with disabilities, women and 
minorities are especially encouraged to apply. 

        The traineeship program is an integrative approach to 
population  genetics, population dynamics and community ecology 
that is designed to create  an awareness of scale and causal 
links between levels of organization, and to  provide students 
with the theoretical and analytical skills to critically  
evaluate these phenomena.  In addition to their dissertation 
research, students  will take a required core curriculum in 
theoretical and applied ecology,  statistics and environmental 
policy.  As an important part of their training,  students will 
do a rotation among the research labs of our faculty to acquire  
first-hand experience in measuring and analyzing biological 
diversity at levels of  organization outside their dissertation 
topic.  At the end of the program, we expect  students to have a 
strong conceptual appreciation of the mechanisms  responsible 
for the evolution and maintenance of biodiversity, and to have  
acquired the quantitative ability to assess and manage 
biodiversity from genes  to ecosystems. 

        There are nineteen participating ecologists, geneticists 
and  environmental physiologists with funded research programs 
in spatiotemporal  patterns of biodiversity in marine and 
terrestrial ecosystems, population  dynamics, metapopulations 
and community structure, biogeochemical cycles,  population 
genetics, breeding systems and fertility, germ plasm resources 
in  wild, captive and domesticated species and systematics. 

Participating investigators are: 

Kamaljit S. Bawa, UMass Boston, Tropical Rainforest Ecology 

Solange Brault, UMass Boston, Population Dynamics of Marine 
Mammals 

Kenneth L. Campbell, UMass Boston,  Endocrinology -- Ecological 
impacts on  hormonal and reproductive function (multiple 
species); Human (Reproductive)  Ecology -- Biological 
determinants of observed variations in fertility among  
populations 

John P. Ebersole, UMass Boston, Ecology of Coral Reef Fishes and 
Temperate  Hermit Crabs 

Ron J. Etter, UMass Boston, Ecology and Evolution of Marine 
Organisms 

Donna M. Fernandes, Franklin Park Zoo, Behavior and Reproduction 
of Animals in  Captivity 

Eugene D. Gallagher, UMass Boston, Marine Benthic Ecology 

William G. Hagar, UMass Boston, Photobiology and Effects of 
Acidification on  Freshwater Biota 

Jeremy J. Hatch, UMass Boston, Behavior and Ecology of Seabirds 

Richard V. Kesseli, UMass Boston, Molecular Population Genetics, 
Evolution of  Breeding Systems and Plant-Pathogen Interactions 

Kenneth C. Kleene, UMass Boston, Molecular Biology of 
Spermatogenesis in Mammals 

Scott D. Kraus, New England Aquarium, Biology and Conservation 
of Marine Mammals 

Michael A. Rex, UMass Boston, Deep-Sea Ecology 

Michael P. Shiaris, UMass Boston, Marine Microbial Ecology 

Eric G. Strauss, Boston College, Behavioral Ecology of 
Shorebirds and  Conservation of Endangered Species 

Robert D. Stevenson, UMass Boston, Physiological Ecology, 
Conservation Biology  of Butterflies 

Tracy A. Villareal, UMass Boston, Ecology of Phytoplankton 

H. Garrison Wilkes, UMass Boston, Genetics and Evolution Under 
Domestication of Plants,  Germplasm Resources 

Zong-Guo Xia, UMass Boston, Remote Sensing, Spatial Information 
Systems, GIS 

 For more information and application forms, please contact: 

 Dr. Richard V. Kesseli                         
Graduate Program Director                         
Department of Biology                         
University of Massachusetts Boston                         
100 Morrissey Blvd.                         
Boston, MA  02125                         
617-287-6641 phone / 617-287-6650 fax 

                        bio_grad at umbsky.cc.umb.edu 

Application Process:  No special application is required.  
Please submit the  standard application for our Ph.D. program in 
Environmental Biology,specifying  interest in the Graduate 
Traineeship Program in Conservation of Biodiversity to: 

Graduate Admissions and Records Office 
University of Massachusetts Boston                         
100 Morrissey Blvd.                        
Boston, MA  02125-3393