The Donovan Lab is a welcoming environment for student's interested in participating in landscape and fire ecology research. Students should be eager to engage in team or independent projects, participate in intellectual discussions during lab meetings, and be willing to contribute to field and computational data collection and analysis. Undergraduate students can also receive credit for participating in research through FOR4905. If you are interested in joining our lab, please send an email to Dr. Donovan explaining why you are interested in our lab and gaining undergraduate research experience.
Graduate Research
PhD Opportunity in Landscape and Fire Ecology
Location: University of Florida IFAS West Florida Research and Education Center Anticipated Start: January 2025 or May 2025 Anticipated Salary: $30,000 plus tuition waiver Application Deadline: Nov 1st or until position is filled.
Position Description: The Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) helps protect watersheds, enhance habitat and air quality, and conserve soils. However, with increasing large wildfires across many regions of the U.S., it is unclear how CRP lands might be mobilized to reduce wildfire risk and contribute to fire resilience landscapes. The Donovan lab is seeking a motivated PhD student to assess of the role that CRP lands have played in historical wildfire risk and their potential to enhance or reduce wildfire risk in the future. Specifically, the student will generate models of wildfire risk and the relative contribution of CRP lands using remotely sensed information and test alternative future scenarios of wildfire risk based on climate and landscape configurations of CRP lands. The student will be expected to lead quantitative statistical analyses, present their findings at scientific conferences, complete relevant course work, and publish their findings in the peer-reviewed literature. Moreover, the student will be expected to collaborate with a team of students and scientists at the University of Florida and Texas State University.
Qualifications: The successful candidates will have a BS/BA and MS degree in ecology or a related field, a valid driver’s license, experience with R, GIS, Google Earth Engine or equivalent programs for data collection and spatial analysis. In addition, they will have strong writing, communication, leadership, and organization skills, and the ability to work independently and as part of a team. Please submit a cover letter explaining why you are pursuing a graduate degree and why you believe this position is the right fit for you, plus a CV, unofficial transcript, and the contact information for two references to Victoria Donovan at [email protected]. Submit documents as a single PDF file named “[your last name]_PhD_CRP.pdf”.
About us: The Donovan Lab focuses on understanding the patterns and processes that promote ecological resilience of populations, communities, and ecosystems from local to landscape scales, with a particular focus on fire. We combine field data with remotely sensed information to quantitatively answer research questions that bridge ecological theory and application. We are based out of the West Florida Research and Education Center (WFREC) and offer a collaborative and inclusive environment for both education and research. Surrounded by extensive forest lands managed with fire along with white sand beaches that line the Gulf of Mexico, the region offers numerous opportunities to study natural resource conservation.
Postdoctoral Research
We do not currently have funding for postdoctoral researchers. However, we are happy to collaborate on grant proposals and fellowships that align with our research interests. Please send an email to [email protected] to discuss collaborations.