Employer: Department of Geology & Geography, Eberly College of Arts and Sciences

Location: Hamden, CT

Application deadline: Open until filled (still posted as of March 1, 2023)

Full position description and application instructions

Summary:

The Department of Geology and Geography in the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences is seeking applications for a Postdoctoral Research Associate to support the following project: Application of Prescribed Fire to Control Southern Pine Beetle, Callery Pear, Spotted Lantern Fly. The researcher will work with researchers of West Virginia University, US Forest Service, and USDA APHIS to investigate how prescribed fire may be useful as a component of integrated pest management for reducing invasive forest pest insects.

This project involves a mix of field and laboratory experiments to explore mechanistic and empirical relationships between fire behavior processes and fire effects as they relate to invasive species egg mass mortality from prescribed fire or its effects. Spotted lanternfly and spongy moth have been selected as two test species for this project. Data collection and field experiments for this work will be conducted in the New Jersey Pinelands while laboratory work will be conducted at the US Forest Service quarantine laboratory in Ansonia, CT. The incumbent will be stationed at the laboratory in Hamden, CT and for day-to-day activities will be supervised by project co-PI Dr. Melody Keena.