Graduate Assistant in ENSO paleoclimatology

I am seeking a graduate student to join us at the University of Maryland (www.umd.edu), Department of Geology (www.geol.umd.edu), Stable Isotope Laboratory (www.geol.umd.edu/facilities/sil) and Paleoclimate CoLaboratory (one.geol.umd.edu), to undertake an NSF-funded project to study the hydroclimatic response of the El Nino-Southern Oscillation to natural and anthropogenic forcing.  The award abstract is here
(https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1903626&HistoricalAwards=false). This project is a collaboration with Rosanne D. D'Arrigo at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, and with Sri Yudawati Cahyarini of the Indonesian Institute of Sciences' Research Centre for Geotechnology (LIPI).

You will develop oxygen (δ18O) dataseries from an existing collection of ring-dated teak (Tectona grandis L. f.)  tree core samples from Muna, South Sulawesi, Indonesia (5.3 o S, 123 o E, elev. 10m), for a 350 year interval spanning both pre-industrial and anthropogenic greenhouse gas and land cover/land use change forcing levels, multiple realizations of explosive volcanic and solar forcing, and years for which net forcing is minimal.  You will interpret the isotopic data using new and existing proxy sensor models, meteorological data, a new collection of precipitation δ 18 O data and parameter sensitivity studies, and you will test the null of no difference for composites assembled using estimates of the external radiative forcings estimated
for the same time interval, as available from the PMIP4 Working Group.

You have an undergraduate degree in the natural sciences, are quantitatively literate, and are fluent in written and spoken English. Experience in gas source stable isotope mass spectrometry, dendrochronology, data analysis and modeling are all desirable, but most of all you are enthusiastic about learning.

For more information, contact Prof. Michael N. Evans, mnevans@umd.edu, with subject line: Graduate assistantship in ENSO paleoclimatology, and please attach a 2p CV in pdf format by way of introduction.
Review of applications made through the Graduate School at the University of Maryland, College Park (gradschool.umd.edu) will begin immediately.  The University of Maryland is an affirmative action/equal opportunity employer.