We are soliciting a current CU Boulder graduate student to join the NC RISCC team for Spring 2024 as a GRA. The North Central Regional Invasive Species and Climate Change (NC RISCC) Management Network seeks a graduate student who is interested in invasive species and climate change to work on a project related to carbon consequences of ecosystem transformation in the North Central region. This position is a great opportunity to learn about how forest systems are responding to disturbances, such as wildfires and plant invasion.
Project description: The GRA will work with a skilled research team to model changes of carbon storage over time due to plant invasions. The selected candidate will 1) access MODIS/Sentinel-2 satellite data, 2) derive indices to estimate aboveground and carbon storage, and 3) model the relationship between Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation (GEDI) biomass data and MODIS/Sentinel indices to develop a time series of biomass across the North Central region of the US. The student will gain hands-on research experience working with various remote sensing data (both active and passive), coding, high performance or cloud computing, and statistical modeling to infer environmental consequences of forest disturbances under the guidance of a team of researchers.
The ideal candidate has the following skills:
- Intermediate or advanced coding skills (python or R preferred)
- Experience working with remote sensing data or an understanding of remote sensing data is an added advantage but not required
- Experience working with cloud computing or high performance computing is a plus
- Willingness to work as a team and to collaborate on projects
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills for technical and non-technical audiences
- Interest in working with stakeholders and/or co-producing research for management needs.
To apply for this position, please send a cover letter detailing your interest in the position and your resume/CV to Ginikanda.Ilangakoon@colorado.edu. Due November 29, 2023.