<div><br clear="all"><br clear="all"><div><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><font size="2" style="color:rgb(0,0,0)"><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif">Jason (Jay) Sexton</span></font></div><div><font size="2" style="color:rgb(0,0,0)"><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif">(he/him/his)<br></span></font></div><div dir="ltr"><font size="2" style="color:rgb(0,0,0)"><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif"></span></font></div><div dir="ltr"><font size="2" style="color:rgb(0,0,0)"><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif"><br></span></font></div><div dir="ltr"><font size="2" style="color:rgb(0,0,0)"><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif">Associate Professor</span></font></div><div dir="ltr"><font size="2" style="color:rgb(0,0,0)"><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif"></span></span></span></font></div><div><font size="2" style="color:rgb(0,0,0)"><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif"></span></font></div><div dir="ltr"><font size="2" style="color:rgb(0,0,0)"><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif">Department of Life and Environmental Sciences<br></span></font></div><div dir="ltr"><font size="2" style="color:rgb(0,0,0)"><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif"></span></span></font></div><div dir="ltr"><font size="2" style="color:rgb(0,0,0)"><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif">University of California, Merced<br></span></font></div><div><font size="2" style="color:rgb(0,0,0)"><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif">236 Science and Engineering Building 1</span></font></div><div><div dir="ltr"><font size="2" style="color:rgb(0,0,0)"><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif"><a href="mailto:jsexton2@ucmerced.edu" target="_blank" style="font-family:arial,sans-serif">jsexton2@ucmerced.edu</a><br><a href="http://sextonlab.ucmerced.edu/" target="_blank" style="font-family:arial,sans-serif">https://sextonlab.ucmerced.edu</a></span></font></div><font size="2" style="color:rgb(0,0,0)"><br></font></div><div><font size="2" style="color:rgb(0,0,0)"><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif"></span></font></div><div><font size="2" style="color:rgb(0,0,0)"><span>Faculty <span>Director</span><br>UC Merced Natural Reserve System</span></font></div><div><span><br></span></div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><br><div dir="ltr"><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><font size="2" style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif"></span></font></p>





</div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><div><br></div><div><br><div class="gmail_quote gmail_quote_container"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">---------- Forwarded message ---------<br>From: <strong class="gmail_sendername" dir="auto">Seema Sheth</strong> <span dir="auto"><<a href="mailto:ssheth3@ncsu.edu">ssheth3@ncsu.edu</a>></span><br>Date: Wed, Oct 8, 2025 at 2:29 PM<br>Subject: PhD position in alpine plant community ecology<br>To: <br></div><br><br><div dir="ltr"><div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;font-size:12pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:small">Dear colleagues,</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;font-size:12pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><br></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in">We are recruiting a Ph.D. student to join our plant evolutionary, population, and community ecology lab at NC State. Please forward this to any interested candidates!</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in"><br>Thanks,<br>Seema</p></div><div><br></div><span class="gmail_signature_prefix">-- </span><br><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:small">Seema Sheth (she/her)</span><br></div><div><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:small">Associate Professor</span></div><div><span><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif" size="2" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;color:rgb(0,0,0)">Department of Plant and Microbial Biology<br>North Carolina State University</font></span><br></div><div><span><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif" size="2" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><a href="http://seemasheth.weebly.com" target="_blank" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">seemasheth.weebly.com</a> </font></span></div><div><span><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif" size="2" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><br></font></span></div><div><span id="m_7875390623988348344gmail-docs-internal-guid-0a36d96a-7fff-e35a-2072-17b12039f0d6"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;text-align:center;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:16pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-weight:700;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;vertical-align:baseline;background-color:transparent;color:rgb(0,0,0)">Ph.D. position in Alpine Plant Community Ecology</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;text-align:center;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:14pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;vertical-align:baseline;background-color:transparent;color:rgb(0,0,0)">Department of Plant and Microbial Biology</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;text-align:center;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:14pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;vertical-align:baseline;background-color:transparent;color:rgb(0,0,0)">North Carolina State University</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;vertical-align:baseline;background-color:transparent;color:rgb(0,0,0)"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;vertical-align:baseline;background-color:transparent;color:rgb(0,0,0)">The </span><a href="https://seemasheth.weebly.com/" style="text-decoration:none" target="_blank"><span style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;text-decoration:underline;vertical-align:baseline;background-color:transparent">Sheth plant evolutionary, population, and community ecology lab</span></a><span style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;vertical-align:baseline;background-color:transparent;color:rgb(0,0,0)"> in the</span><a href="http://pmb.cals.ncsu.edu/" style="text-decoration:none" target="_blank"><span style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;text-decoration:underline;vertical-align:baseline;background-color:transparent"> Department of Plant and Microbial Biology</span></a><span style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;vertical-align:baseline;background-color:transparent;color:rgb(0,0,0)"> at</span><a href="http://ncsu.edu/" style="text-decoration:none" target="_blank"><span style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;text-decoration:underline;vertical-align:baseline;background-color:transparent"> North Carolina State University</span></a><span style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;vertical-align:baseline;background-color:transparent;color:rgb(0,0,0)"> (Raleigh, NC) invites applications for a Ph.D. student beginning in Fall 2026. We combine long-term observational datasets collected in the field with experimental and statistical approaches to understand how populations, species, and communities </span><font face="arial, sans-serif" style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><span style="font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;vertical-align:baseline;font-family:arial,sans-serif;background-color:transparent;color:rgb(0,0,0)">adapt to climate in space and time</span><span style="font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;vertical-align:baseline;font-family:arial,sans-serif;color:rgb(0,0,0)">. We strive to foster an environment where people from all backgrounds are respected. We value the safety of all team members in the lab and field.</span></font></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><br></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(0,0,0)">The student will be funded through a combination of teaching assistantships and summer research assistantships associated with the non-profit organization, </span><a href="https://www.gloriagreatbasin.org/" style="text-decoration:none" target="_blank"><span style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;text-decoration:underline;vertical-align:baseline">GLORIA Great Basin</span></a><span style="font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(0,0,0)">. </span><span style="font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;vertical-align:baseline;background-color:transparent;color:rgb(0,0,0)">GLORIA Great Basin supports an international mission to assess global changes in composition and distribution of alpine flora in a changing climate. Partnering with GLORIA Great Basin, the student will develop a dissertation project focused on understanding the long-term effects of climate change on alpine plant community dynamics on mountaintops in the Great Basin and Sierran regions of the Western US, with the potential of participating in a collaborative synthesis of GLORIA summits across North America. The student will contribute to collecting, managing, and disseminating the data for field sites in the Western US, performing these tasks in coordination with citizen scientists, research institutions, federal agencies, and the broader GLORIA community. The Ph.D. student will join a highly collaborative team of researchers, including Drs. </span><a href="https://meaganoldfather.weebly.com/" style="text-decoration:none" target="_blank"><span style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;text-decoration:underline;vertical-align:baseline;background-color:transparent">Meagan Oldfather</span></a><span style="font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;vertical-align:baseline;background-color:transparent;color:rgb(0,0,0)">, </span><a href="https://www.briansmithers.net/" style="text-decoration:none" target="_blank"><span style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;text-decoration:underline;vertical-align:baseline;background-color:transparent">Brian Smithers</span></a><span style="font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;vertical-align:baseline;background-color:transparent;color:rgb(0,0,0)">, and </span><a href="https://michaeljkoontz.weebly.com/" style="text-decoration:none" target="_blank"><span style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;text-decoration:underline;vertical-align:baseline;background-color:transparent">Mike Koontz</span></a><span style="font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;vertical-align:baseline;background-color:transparent;color:rgb(0,0,0)">. </span></p><br><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-weight:700;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;vertical-align:baseline;background-color:transparent;color:rgb(0,0,0)">Preferred qualifications: </span><span style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;vertical-align:baseline;background-color:transparent;color:rgb(0,0,0)">The ideal candidate has previous experience conducting field research in remote alpine environments, expertise in plant identification and ecological concepts, and the ability to coordinate and lead field teams. </span></p><br><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-weight:700;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;vertical-align:baseline;background-color:transparent;color:rgb(0,0,0)">NCSU and the Research Triangle: </span><span style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(0,0,0)">NC State’s Department of Plant and Microbial Biology offers a highly-rated research environment and is situated in a collaborative and scientifically stimulating atmosphere in the Research Triangle, with both UNC Chapel Hill and Duke University nearby. There is a vibrant and growing community of ecologists and evolutionary biologists spread across multiple departments on campus, including Applied Ecology, Biological Sciences, Entomology and Plant Pathology, Forestry and Environmental Resources, Soil and Crop Sciences, and Biochemistry, among others. Raleigh is a lively yet affordable city with a high standard of living, and its surroundings offer numerous recreational activities.</span></p><br><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-weight:700;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;vertical-align:baseline;background-color:transparent;color:rgb(0,0,0)">To apply:</span><span style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;vertical-align:baseline;background-color:transparent;color:rgb(0,0,0)"> </span><span style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(0,0,0)">Prospective graduate students should apply to the </span><span style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-weight:700;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(0,0,0)">Plant Biology Graduate Program</span><span style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(0,0,0)">.</span><span style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;vertical-align:baseline;background-color:transparent;color:rgb(0,0,0)"> Before submitting a formal application (</span><span style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-weight:700;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;vertical-align:baseline;background-color:transparent;color:rgb(0,0,0)">due January 15</span><span style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;vertical-align:baseline;background-color:transparent;color:rgb(0,0,0)">), please send the following information to Dr. Sheth at <a href="mailto:ssheth3@ncsu.edu" target="_blank" style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif">ssheth3@ncsu.edu</a> no later than </span><span style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-weight:700;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;vertical-align:baseline;background-color:transparent;color:rgb(0,0,0)">November 3</span><span style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;vertical-align:baseline;background-color:transparent;color:rgb(0,0,0)">: </span><span style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(0,0,0)">1) CV; and 2) a statement of your academic background and previous research experience, current research interests, and why you want to join the lab.</span></p></span><br><br></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>
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