GRASSLAND FUELS AND
FIRE RESEARCH
Description:
The University of Nebraska-Lincoln is hiring a graduate assistant for 2.5 years to conduct
fire modeling research associated with dynamic, temporal changes in grassland fuels and
fire behavior in response to precipitation variability, grazing, time-since-fire, and woody
encroachment. These models will be used to improve our understanding of the factors
contributing to the dynamic nature of grassland fuels and will facilitate efforts to improve
characterizations of wildfire danger in grassland ecosystems (e.g. OK-FIRE;
http://okfire.mesonet.org). Fire models will be based on an extensive field dataset that
quantifies changes in grassland fuel characteristics over time in response to fire, grazing,
and drought.
The successful candidate will be part of a collaborative research team conducting unique
fire experiments throughout the Great Plains. Collaboration opportunities with other
students are encouraged. Please explore Dirac Twidwell’s research site for an overview
of existing projects (http://agronomy.unl.edu/twidwell).
Qualifications
The student will be part of an interdisciplinary team that includes ecologists,
meteorologists, and soil physicists at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Oklahoma
State University. The successful candidate will therefore be highly motivated, passionate
about scientific inquiry across disciplines, possess excellent writing and communication
skills, and have a strong desire to pursue publication of research in refereed scientific
journals. Familiarity with fire behavior models, fuels sampling, fuels models and
quantitative statistical or mathematical techniques is also desired. Students with a B.S.
degree will be considered across various fields of study, but preference will be given to
candidates with a strong interdisciplinary background in ecology or biology, math, and
physics, and show a strong commitment to develop an ecological background throughout
their graduate studies.
Applicants interested in this position should send a letter of interest, GRE scores, and a
resume or CV that includes contact information of three references (email is preferred).
Start date is flexible, depending on the qualifications of the candidate; the expectation is
to begin between May - August 2014.
Contact:
Dr. Dirac Twidwell
Assistant Professor and Rangeland Ecologist
University of Nebraska – Lincoln
dirac.twidwell@unl.edu