Forsoils Graduate Assistantships in Plant-Soil-Microbiome Interactions Related to Soil Health and Carbon Sequestration at Virginia Tech

Please distribute as you see fit and encourage any interested candidates to contact me directly for more information.

Thanks!

—
Brian D. Strahm
Professor
Virginia Tech
Forest Resources & Environmental Conservation
310C Cheatham Hall, Blacksburg, VA 24061
brian.strahm | 540-231-8627

Graduate Assistantships in
Plant-Soil-Microbiome Interactions Related to Soil Health and Carbon Sequestration
at Virginia Tech

We are recruiting multiple graduate students (2 Ph.D., 1 M.S.) into an interdisciplinary research team to broadly focus on the fate of belowground carbon. We know that diverse carbon substrates are differently processed by an equally diverse microbiome in ways that fundamentally influence their fate and persistence in soils. Our goal is to use models and empirical evidence (e.g., laboratory and field-based observations) to understand that variation and predict the fate of carbon in response to land-use or global environmental change.

The incoming students, advised by either Brian Badgley (badgley; brian.strahm; Forest Resources and Environmental Conservation), will be joining a team that includes existing faculty and graduate students also addressing these challenges. Specifically, we are seeking students interested in pursuing the following:

• Ph.D. focused on soil microbiome traits
• (Badgley)

• • Preferred experience includes: field
  • and laboratory experimentation, molecular analysis of environmental samples, metagenomic analyses

• Ph.D. focused on soil carbon cycling
• (Strahm)

• • Preferred experience includes: field
  • and laboratory analysis of soil or other environmental samples, stable isotope techniques

• M.S. focused on estimating soil carbon
• responses to management (Strahm)

• • Preferred experience includes: working
  • with environmental data, programming (e.g., R)

Successful candidates will be located on the main campus in Blacksburg, VA and are expected to begin in summer/fall 2022. Assistantships include: an annual stipend of ~$25,000-27,000 (based on 20 hours/week); a tuition waiver (worth ~$14,000); and a subsidy (presently 88%) of the university’s student medical insurance plan.

Ph.D students may also be considered for the campus-wide Interfaces of Global Change interdisciplinary graduate education program after their first year in residence.

Students should contact the relevant faculty member with a cover letter outlining your interest and include a CV and the contact information for three references.