AVÀÇÂÛ̳

Faculty member:
Kay McMonigal
Assistant Professor, Oceanography

Number of openings: 1

Position available: August 2025

Ph.D. position description:
The student would use existing data to investigate warming and freshening of deep waters in the Indian Ocean. I am open to students of any variety of STEM backgrounds who have a strong interest in physical oceanography and climate change. Some background using a coding language, and interest in seagoing fieldwork, are desired but not required. My research group strongly supports students from traditionally underrepresented backgrounds. Please reach out to me for more information, or to discuss whether your background would be a good fit for the project.

Financial support available: 2 years research assistantship from NSF

Faculty member:
Taryn Lopez
Research Associate Professor,  Geophysical Institute

Number of openings: 1

Position available: Fall 2025

Ph.D. position description:
AVÀÇÂÛ̳ Geophysical Institute is seeking a PhD student interested in joining the Earth System Science PhD program to work on an NSF-funded project to constrain the sources and fate of volcanically sourced mercury along the Aleutian-AVÀÇÂÛ̳ Arc. In this project the student will work with an interdisciplinary team of project mentors, AVÀÇÂÛ̳ Volcano Observatory scientists, and undergraduate and high school student researchers to expand our knowledge of volcanic mercury emissions and their impact in AVÀÇÂÛ̳. The successful PhD student will lead a 3-part, lab-focused project that will combine new analyses on archived volcanic ash samples collected from volcanoes along the Aleutian-AVÀÇÂÛ̳ Arc with existing constraints on potential mercury sources to: (1) Validate a method to estimate eruptive mercury emissions using particulate-bound mercury concentrations on ash and eruptive ash masses, (2) Confirm the existence of ‘low’ and ‘high’ mercury-emitting volcanoes (see Kushner et al., 2023), and (3) Constrain the source and environmental fate of volcanic mercury. Through this work the student will gain experience in ash sample collection, laboratory analysis, statistical analysis, data processing and analysis, and scientific writing.

Financial support available:
Research Assistantship (including financial coverage of tuition, fees, health insurance) at the standard UAF graduate student rate of $29.80 per hour)

Faculty member:
Andy Aschwanden
Research Professor, Geophysical Institute

Number of openings: 1

Position available: Fall 2025

Ph.D. position description: 
The Last Interglacial (LIG, approx. 130–115 thousand years ago; ka) is the most recent time in Earth’s history when the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets melted significantly beyond their present extents. We will study the Last Interglacial using an ice sheet model (PISM) coupled to an Earth System Model (CLIMBER-X). The ideal candidate for this project has good background in physics or related field and is likes to tinker with code and run simulations on large High Performance Computer systems.

Financial support available: 3 year RA

Faculty member:
Santosh Panda
Associate Professor, Natural Resources and Environment

Number of openings: 1 

Position available: Fall 2025

Ph.D. position description:
Looking for a Ph.D. student in the area of Climate Change Adaptation and Resilience Planning in the Arctic with focus on 1) investigating the impacts of climate change on natural resources and infrastructure emphasizing adaptive strategies for sustainable Arctic systems, 2) leveraging advanced geospatial technologies and modeling to improve resource management and conservation outcomes, and 3) evaluation of management strategies that foster coexistence between industrial development and environmental protection in the Arctic.

Financial support available: Teaching Assistantship

Faculty member: 
Michael Roddewig
Assistant Professor, Geophysical Institute

Number of openings: 2

Position available: Fall 2025

Ph.D. position description:
Two students interested in the design, construction, and operation of lidar instruments to sense gravity waves in the middle atmosphere and profile fish, plankton, and measure bathymetry in the ocean. The successful candidate will have a background in physics or electrical/mechanical engineering. No experience in optics or lidar is necessary, we will teach you!

Financial support available: Full RA support

Faculty member:
David Fee
Research Professor, Geophysical Institute

Number of openings: 1

Position available: Fall 2025

Ph.D. position description:
We are looking for an MS or PhD student in Geophysics to work as part of a large consortium of universities and national labs to help detect nuclear proliferation activities. The student will use infrasound (low frequency sound) data and machine learning applied in new ways. Internships with national labs are anticipated.

Financial support available: 5 years of RA funding for and MS or PhD student.

Faculty member:
Steven Dykstra
Assistant Professor, College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences

Number of openings: 1

Position available: August 2025

Ph.D. position description:
High latitude coastal dynamics are studied in-situ during fair-weather conditions and with remote sensing of surface features, leaving a critical gap in our understanding of the processes controlling these coasts during most of the year and will remain an important limitation in global warming predictions until the processes are resolved.

Join the Coastal Dynamics Lab—led by Dr. Steven Dykstra—focused on the physical, geomorphic and cryospheric processes of coasts, deltas/estuaries, and rivers, where students learn skills in conducting fieldwork, time series analysis, analytical modeling, and communication.

Student projects focus on A) the major drivers and hazards of river-ocean transitions and how they are affected by climate change, B) The affects of ice on estuarine and coastal circulation, and C) detecting how long-term changes in coastal hydrodynamics (e.g., tides, storm surges) are being altered by vertical land motion, sea level rise, human coastal development, and the changing cryosphere.

Prospective students should be curious, creative, willing to work in a collaborative team environment, have excellent communication skills, some field/outdoor Experience (does not have to be research), a degree in a related science or math field (geology, physics, engineering, marine science, math, geography), some data analysis skills, some experience programing and/or deploying scientific equipment, and a willingness to occasionally work in cold/challenging environments.

Financial support available: Research Assistantship and Teaching Assistantship

Faculty member:
Bill Simpson
Professor, Geophysical Institute

Number of openings: 2

Position available: Fall 2025

Ph.D. position description:
The Simpson group has two Ph.D. opportunities.  One position will measure greenhouse gases and smoke from AVÀÇÂÛ̳n wildfires to understand their climate impact and seeks to understand emissions as a function of the fuel type and fire condition.  The work uses infrared spectroscopy and collaborates with NASA and ESA satellite missions.  The other position measures vertical distribution of Fairbanks urban pollution and how temperature inversions affect the vertical dilution of pollution.  This work is a part of the AVÀÇÂÛ̳n Layered Pollution and Chemical Analysis (ALPACA) project (https://alpaca.community.uaf.edu).

Financial support available: 
Students in our group are supported by a combination of teaching and research assistantships year round and at standard UAF pay rates.