Graduate Assistant - Biology, Urban Wildlife Ecology

Graduate Assistant
- Biology, Urban Wildlife Ecology

The College of Graduate Studies (COGS) coordinates all of BSU's Graduate Assistantships. For more information on the program or for the status of your application, please contact:
Cassie Birch c1birch

Title
- Graduate Assistant
- Biology, Urban Wildlife Ecology

Position Description
- The Graduate Assistant (GA) will work 20 hours per week and receive up to 24 credits of tuition and student fee waivers: 9 for fall, 9 for spring and 6 for summer. This Graduate Assistant position will support a faculty-led research program in urban wildlife ecology, tick ecology, and Lyme disease risk in urban green spaces across the Greater Boston Area.

The position is designed as a mentored research and training opportunity for an M.S. student and emphasizes quantitative analysis, ecological modeling, study design, scientific writing, and active participation in field-based wildlife monitoring. Under faculty supervision, the GA will contribute to the development and implementation of research workflows that integrate wildlife surveys, camera-trap data, tick sampling, visitor survey data, and environmental covariates to evaluate ecological patterns across gradients of urbanization.

The position is intended to support the successful completion of a master's thesis in urban wildlife ecology while also providing advanced professional, academic, and career development in field ecology, data science, geospatial analysis, and scholarly communication.

Responsibilities will include:

• Quantitative analysis and ecological modeling:
  Develop and apply statistical models to evaluate wildlife occurrence, relative abundance, habitat use, and ecological responses to urbanization across heterogeneous urban landscapes.
• Integrated ecological data analysis:
  Manage and analyze integrated datasets from wildlife monitoring, tick sampling, visitor surveys, and environmental variables to examine patterns associated with landscape structure and ecological change.
• Reproducible research workflows:
  Conduct analyses in R using reproducible workflows for data management, visualization, model evaluation, uncertainty assessment, and interpretation of ecological patterns.
• Camera-trap study design and wildlife monitoring:
  Design and refine trail-camera deployment strategies, including site selection, camera spacing, deployment duration, metadata standards, and monitoring protocols to support robust ecological inference.
• Field preparation and equipment management:
  Assist with fieldwork preparation, equipment organization, inventory management, camera deployment, retrieval, maintenance, and troubleshooting during field activities in urban green spaces.
• Wildlife and tick field sampling:
  Participate in standardized wildlife monitoring and tick sampling using established field protocols and maintain accurate records of biological observations and associated site-level covariates.
• Tick identification and disease-risk integration:
  Identify ticks to the appropriate taxonomic level and life stage and contribute to analyses linking wildlife activity, habitat characteristics, and tick-borne disease risk indicators.
• Geospatial analysis and predictive modeling:
  Compile, manage, and process GIS and remote-sensing data; derive environmental predictor variables; and develop geospatial models of wildlife occurrence, habitat use, and ecological patterning across urban landscapes.
• AI-assisted image processing and data integration:
  Process trail-camera imagery using open-source AI tools for wildlife species classification, validate AI-generated outputs, and integrate image records with metadata and environmental datasets for analysis.
• Data management and database curation:
  Maintain organized and standardized databases for wildlife detections, tick samples, camera metadata, and related project datasets, including data dictionaries, metadata records, and quality-control procedures.
• Scientific writing and communication:
  Lead or contribute to preparation of manuscripts, abstracts, technical reports, posters, presentations, and other scholarly products for peer-reviewed publication and professional meetings.
• Undergraduate training and collaborative research:
  Assist with training undergraduate researchers in field protocols, data entry, image classification, and research ethics, while helping coordinate field and data-processing activities within a collaborative laboratory environment.
• Collaboration and compliance:
  Work closely with faculty and project collaborators to align field and analytical activities with project objectives and follow all field safety, institutional, and environmental compliance requirements.

This position provides substantial educational value by training the graduate student in advanced ecological research methods, quantitative and geospatial analysis, AI-assisted data processing, reproducible research practices, and scientific communication.

Preferred Qualifications

- Required Qualifications Bachelor's degree in Biological…