Position Announcement: PhD/MSc student

The Lab of Dr. Francesco Ferretti in the Department of Fish and Wildlife Conservation at Virginia Tech seeks motivated candidates for a Ph.D. and an M.Sc. position willing to make a difference in Ocean Conservation and Fisheries Science. We are looking for energetic, entrepreneurial, and creative students who would like to conduct research in fisheries science, marine conservation and ecology and use an interdisciplinary and quantitative approach. The students will have the opportunity to join a growing lab addressing issues of ocean sustainability, marine biodiversity conservation, fisheries management, and conservation.

The candidate is expected to develop innovative research projects involving data science, computational and research synthesis approaches, as well as fieldwork components, to advance the field of ecology and conservation of sharks and their relatives, ecosystem consequences of fishing exploitation, characterizing ecosystem and population baselines, conservation and management role of large marine protected areas, patterns of global fishing fleets, and developing innovative ways to combat illegal fishing (here is a list of ongoing projects).

Qualifications:

The successful candidate will have a college degree or Master preferentially in biology, ecology, oceanography, fisheries science, statistics, mathematics, computer science or engineering in the field of software development, aerospace, remote sensing as well as mechanical and electrical engineering. Preferred students would have high computer literacy, programming skills and experience with data analysis, or a strong motivation to develop these skills. In particular, assets are:

  • fluency in either R, Python or similar programming languages and capability to interact with relational databases, servers and cluster computing facilities;
  • familiarity with Spatio-temporal analytical approaches and software, habitat modeling, fisheries stock assessment models, statistical modeling in frequentist and Bayesian frameworks applied to ecological data;
  • experience with Data Science and visualization approaches and tools, machine learning and computer vision.
  • experience with marine fisheries science, management and conservation issues

The expected starting date is May 2020 and review of application will begin on January 20th, 2020. The position includes funding for stipend and research activities. Priority will be given to students competitive for external funding. Selected applicant(s) is/are expected to apply for external funding, participate in regular lab meetings, attend departmental seminars, publish results in peer-reviewed journals and present their research in national and international meetings.

Applicants should email Dr. Francesco Ferretti (ferretti@vt.edu) and include: (i) a cover letter describing research interests, career goals, relevant past experiences, and fit for the position (ii) an updated CV, and (iii) undergraduate transcript(s) and GRE scores; and (iv) full contact information for at least 3 professional references.