Ph.D. Graduate Assistantship in Watershed Hydrology

The Department of Renewable Resources at University of Wyoming (www.uwyo.edu/renewableresources) seeks a PhD student for a fully funded graduate research assistantship (GA) to commence as soon as January, 2010.


The student will work on an interdisciplinary team investigating the fate and transport of water, sediment and salts in areas affected by oil and gas development. This is an exciting research program tasked with determining and modeling mechanisms by which salts and other water-borne constituents become mobile and transported within the Upper Colorado River basin. Our project areas are located in southern and western Wyoming where concerns have been raised over local and downstream hydrological and ecological effects of surface disturbance directly resulting from energy development.


This GA will involve intensive field work and the development and use of computer-based simulation models. Field work will consist of soil and water quality sampling and monitoring in areas affected and unaffected by development; using high resolution ground-based LiDAR to measure and monitor channel and upland systems; and establish a long-term hydrologic and meteorological sampling program. The goal of the field research program is to collect the data necessary to provide a basis for construction of a spatially-explicit mechanistic salt transport model. The project is funded by the School of Energy Resources (http://uwyo.edu/ser/) and the Bureau of Land Management and will be housed in the SAWLS group (www.uwyo.edu/sawls) and Wyoming GIS Center (http://www.uwyo.edu/wygisc/).

To apply, please send a statement of interest, resume, transcripts and contact information for a minimum of two references to Scott Miller (snmiller@uwyo.edu), Associate Professor; Spatial Processes Hydrologist, University of Wyoming.

Scott Miller, PhD
Associate Professor - Spatial Processes Hydrologist
Dept 3354; Renewable Resources
1000 E. University Ave.
University of Wyoming
Tele: +1 307 766 4274
Email: snmiller@uwyo.edu
SAWLS: www.uwyo.edu/sawls