Student Recruitment and Opportunities Currently there are three PhD Fellowships available in Soil Microbial Ecology for qualified students. These Fellowships are funded by a grant obtained from the USDA National Needs Fellowship Program. Fellowships currently provide payment of tuition and fees at The Ohio State University and a stipend of $1,440 per month. The Abstract of the National Needs Fellowship Program proposal is shown below to provide a brief overview of the program. Interested students should contact Dr. Warren Dick directly at dick.5@osu.edu. “Soil microbial ecology is emerging as a dominant discipline for solving many challenges facing societies today such as biosecurity, natural attenuation of polluted ecosystems and sustainable management of our natural resources. Yet in comparison to industrial and medical microbiology, the number of soil microbial ecology graduate students is small. The Ohio State University (OSU) has made recent and substantive investments in soil microbial ecology with (1) the establishment of the Ohio Eminent Scholar in Soil Microbial Ecology (awarded to Richard P. Dick in 2004) and (2) the investment of more than $2 million for the creation or renovation of laboratory space in Parker Hall (Columbus) and Hayden Hall (Wooster). These world-class facilities support increasingly strong research, teaching and graduate education programs in soil microbial ecology. The OSU soil microbial ecology program is focused on understanding and manipulating soil microbial communities to produce practical solutions for bioremediation, biosecurity and biogeochemical cycling.
Fellows will be actively recruited nation wide. Two key faculty members at Tuskegee University and Lincoln University will help identify Fellow applicants from minority and underrepresented groups. To qualify for a Fellowship, applicants must (1) have completed a master's degree in an appropriate academic discipline upon entry to the fellowship program, (2) have a grade-point average of approximately 3.6 (4.0=A) for graduate course work, (3) have on file three letters of recommendation from professors familiar with their academic qualifications, research interests, and career goals, (4) have submitted a personal statement summarizing academic background and career goals and (5) be citizens or nationals of the United States. The Project Directors provide a rare blend of diverse but complementary soil microbial ecology research expertise within a single institution. Their strong track record as successful mentors of graduate students is evident by having collectively supervised more than 50 graduate students. These students have been strongly recruited by employers and are highly successful as scientists in public and private careers. The reputation and honor of the National Needs Fellowship will increase the number and quality of incoming students and result in future leaders that will meet the challenges of directing and shaping work in soil microbial ecology.” Financial support for qualified students is also available on a competitive basis from The Ohio State University and from the School of Natural Resources via university fellowships and teaching assistantships. To be competitive for this support, students must generally meet the following qualifications:
A limited number of students who do not meet the criteria listed above, but who otherwise have very strong academic records, may be nominated for a Graduate School Fellowship at the discretion of our Soil Science graduate program. Further information about the Soil Science Graduate Program can be found at http://snr.osu.edu/grad_graphics/soil/soil.html |
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