Interested PhD (strongly preferred) and MS applicants may contact me (Prof. Crystal Ng, [email protected]) with their CV and description of interests. The application deadline for graduate students is Dec. 15, 2025.
1. Tribally engaged hydrological research on Manoomin/Psiη/wild rice in the Upper Great Lakes region
I am seeking a graduate student (PhD (strongly preferred) or MS) for collaborative research with Upper Great Lakes tribal partners on the hydrology of Manoomin (Ojibwe) / Psiη (Dakota) / Zizania palustris (scientific name) /wild rice (common name) lakes and streams. The student(s) will join an interdisciplinary research collaborative at University of Minnesota-Twin Cities focused on protecting Manoomin/Psiη, with a core commitment to prioritizing tribal needs, perspectives, and knowledge. The specific position will be to investigate how climate and land-use change is impacting hydrology and water quality, and the implications for Manoomin/Psiη health. This work directly responds to concerns from tribal harvesters who seen the century-long decline of Manoomin/Psiη, a sacred food, medicine, and relative for many Indigenous peoples. Research activities will be carried out in close collaboration with tribal partners and will involve some combination of fieldwork, statistical data analysis, hydrological computer modeling, and/or geochemical lab work based on tribal needs and the student's interests.
2. Interdisciplinary hydrological research on retreating tropical glaciers in the Ecuadorian Andes
I am seeking a graduate student (PhD (strongly preferred) or MS) for interdisciplinary research to understand the impacts of climate change on tropical, glacierized watersheds in the Ecuadorian Andes mountains. With warming temperatures, glaciers on these mountains are retreating fast, triggering major shifts in water supply, water quality, fragile páramo ecosystems, and carbon budgets. This project includes collaborative high-mountain fieldwork (on Volcán Cayambe and Volcán Antisana, Ecuador) with researchers from multiple U.S. and Ecuadorian institutions, as well as eco-hydrological and/or biogeochemical modeling. We are also working with Indigenous, Kichwa communities at the base of these mountains, who hold tremendous knowledge about these mountain systems, and who urgently seek to understand how they are changing, and the implications on their livelihoods.