Two Master of Science Fellows needed to support NASA LCLUC program

Organization

University of Wisconsin-Madison

Deadline

Tuesday, December 1, 2020

Start Date

Tuesday, June 1, 2021

Summary

The University of Wisconsin-Madison and Conservation International (CI) are recruiting two Master of Science Fellows to support an interdisciplinary project on assessing the impact of global markets and national policies on forest carbon and social outcomes funded by the NASA Land Use/Land Cover Change program. The project combines remote sensing data analysis with field work, spatial econometrics, and socioeconomic surveys in the Guiana Shield region of South America. This will generate science-based evidence to guide policy makers and practitioners for effective and scalable natural climate solutions that benefit nature and people.

The Fellows will be part of an interdisciplinary team that includes scientists from multiple geographies and backgrounds. Fellows will collaborate with the team of scientists in collecting forest biomass/forest inventory and socioeconomic datasets that will include travel to Guyana and Suriname, and linking these field data to remotely sensed data (primarily satellite imagery).  

The Fellows will join the Environmental Observation & Informatics (EOI) Master of Science program in the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies at UW-Madison (www.nelson.wisc.edu/observation). The EOI program is 32 credits completed over 15 months. It is a professionally focused MS where students work directly with an organization to complete an independent project. Fellows will be supervised by staff in the Nelson Institute and Cl and have the opportunity to contribute to peer-reviewed publications. Students will start the program in June 2021 and graduate in August 2022. 

Funding 

The students will be funded through a fellowship from UW-Madison. The fellowship includes a monthly stipend for the full 15 months of the program, a scholarship that covers the full tuition costs, and project expenses for travel and data collection. Costs of living, some UW-Madison fees, and health insurance will be paid by the student.  

Qualifications 

We seek applicants who can demonstrate the following: 

  • Strong understanding of GIS concepts and a GIS program, such as ArcGIS or QGIS. 
  • Familiarity with a programming language (e.g. R, Stata, python, java script) 
  • Experience conducting data collection, such as quantitative and qualitative surveys, semi-structured interviews, forest inventory data, ground truth data for remote sensing analysis 
  • Willingness to travel to remote rural field sites. 
  • Willingness to work with a dynamic interdisciplinary team in generating science-based evidence to inform policy and advance cutting-edge science.  
  • Understanding of socio-ecological theoretical frameworks; climate change policy; econometrics, diffusion of innovation theory; impact evaluation are desirable skills but not required.

The EOI program is committed to building and supporting diverse cohorts and strongly encourage applications from candidates of color, historically underrepresented communities and first-generation college students. 

How to apply  

Full information for EOI program application requirements can be found at this website: https://nelson.wisc.edu/graduate/professional-programs/environmental-observation-informatics/how-to-apply.php. Applications are due December 1, 2020 through the UW-Madison Graduate School online application (https://apply.grad.wisc.edu). Applicants must apply for the EOI program for the summer 2021 term.  Applicants should state in their statement of interest that they would like to be considered for the EOI Fellowship with Conservation International and address the desired qualifications. Applicants who are not selected for the fellowship may still be admitted to the EOI program and awarded a scholarship through the program’s Tuition Assistance award. 

Contact 

Please contact Dr. Sarah Graves (sjgraves@wisc.edu) for more information about the project and applying for the fellowship. 

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