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NEW RESEARCH OPPORTUNITIES For Graduate Students

The Water and Environmental Research Center of the Institute of Northern Engineering at the University of Alaska Fairbanks invites applications for graduate research assistantships.

We currently have several funded projects focussing on hydrology as it relates to climate and climate change in the Arctic.  These projects involve the extensive collection and analysis of both field and Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data, principally to measure soil moisture, snow melt, and ground temperature for use in hydrologic and thermal modeling.  These variables control the type and rate of surface decomposition (and therefore atmospheric gas flux) as well as permafrost dynamics, yet there is currently no reliable way to measure them remotely with high resolution.  We have active research sites located throughout Arctic and Subarctic Alaska, eastern Siberia, and the deserts of Colorado. 

Your thesis research will be tailored to suit your skills and interests, but all projects require strong programming and field skills.  Computer work ranges from finite element modeling, neural network modeling, geo-spatial statisical analyses, SAR interferometry, and image analyses working in Matlab, C++, and Fortran on Unix and NT platforms.  These projects also require a large degree of field research, in air temperatures ranging from –40C to +40C, though wind-chills can bring apparent temperatures below –70C.  Researchers will likely spend time measuring soil moisture, stream flow, snow depths, thaw depths, water samples, meteorologic measurements, and other environmental measurements.  Some of these activities will require the ability to hike or ski with a large pack, as well as travel by helicopter, small aircraft, snow machines and ATVs.  The office environment is energetic, and an open sharing of data, ideas, and resources is the norm.

Further information can be found on our web page www.uaf.edu/water and by contacting any of the faculty listed on it.  To apply, please submit resume, transcripts, names and phone numbers of three references, and a letter describing your research interests and goals to Dr. Doug Kane (ffdlk@uaf.edu), Water and Environmental Research Center, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, Alaska  99775-5680.

Research Assistantships
available in Hydrology, starting summer 2006.
Contact: Dr. Dan White or
Dr. Douglas Kane