PhD Graduate Assistantship in Environmental Soil Chemistry at University of Wyoming, USA

Assistant Professor Mike Zhu is looking for PhD students. Read below.

A fully-funded PhD graduate assistantship, starting in fall 2014, is available in environmental soil chemistry in the Department of Ecosystem Science and Management at the University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY, United States of America.

Manganese (Mn) oxides are one group of the most reactive environmental materials that play a significant role in controlling contaminant fate and transport and nutrient cycling in natural environmental systems and also have applications in water treatment, air purification and electrochemistry. We seek a highly-motivated PhD candidate to conduct research on biogenic Mn oxide (BioMnOx) nanoparticles that are formed through microbially-mediated Mn2+ oxidation. The student will investigate how the mineralogical and chemical properties of BioMnOx depend on environmental conditions under which the oxides form, and how the property variations affect BioMnOx reactivity regarding metal and nutrient cycling. The student will learn multiple state-of-the-art synchrotron X-ray techniques for characterizing nanoparticles and metals, including X-ray absorption spectroscopy and high-energy X-ray scattering or atomic pair distribution function analysis available at the national synchrotron X-ray facilities.

The ideal candidate will have a MS degree in soil science, geochemistry/chemistry, environmental science and engineering, and geomicrobiology with a strong background and interest in chemical, mineralogical and microbial processes. To apply go online (http://www.uwyo.edu/uwgrad/prospective/applying/index.html) or for pre-application evaluation you may email CV, unofficial GPA and GRE/TOEFL scores, and contact information for three references to mzhu6@uwyo.edu. The application deadline is January 31, 2014. For more information, please contact Dr. Mengqiang Zhu, Assistant Professor in Soils and Environmental Biogeochemistry at mzhu6@uwyo.edu and 307-766-5523. (http://www.uwyo.edu/esm/faculty-and-staff/mengqiang-zhu.html and http://www.uwyo.edu/esm/graduate/prospective/majors/soil.html)