Presidential Graduate Assistantship (PGA) Position: Integrative insights into conservation threats in extreme ecosystems The Integrative Stewardship of Extreme Environments (ISEE) research cluster within the School of Mathematical and Natural Sciences (SMNS) at Arizona State University (ASU) seeks applicants for the Presidential Graduate Assistant (PGA) Fellowship Program to start at ASU in Fall 2026. ISEE is an interdisciplinary research cluster working across the natural and mathematical sciences on conservation issues, and the recruited students will work across these disciplines with a primary focus in one of the following PhD Programs at ASU: The School of Life Sciences (e.g., Biology, Animal Behavior, Environmental Life Sciences, Evolutionary Biology, etc.), School of Sustainability, School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences (e.g., Mathematics, Applied Mathematics, Statistics), or School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence (e.g., Computer Science; Data Science, Analytics, and Engineering). The Presidential Graduate Assistantship (PGA) is a merit-based award created to support the recruitment, professional development and faculty mentoring of doctoral students whose research teaching and service will contribute to advancing the ASU Charter. The program creates opportunities to recruit and mentor doctoral students enrolling in an on-campus immersion degree program who offer great potential to advance into the professoriate and other careers. This program ensures our continued evolution as a premier public research institution with a fundamental responsibility to the communities that it serves. ISEE is seeking students interested in performing research on conservation biology within extreme environments under the supervision of one or more of the faculty within the research cluster. Research questions could be focused on investigating fundamental biological processes (ecology, evolution, behavior, biogeochemistry, etc.), applied contexts (i.e., the nature/impact of conservation threats on biodiversity), and may utilize a range of tools in mathematical modelling, computing (e.g., artificial intelligence and machine learning), and biological sciences. ISEE seeks to recruit two students for the program to work within a collaborative network of faculty and students on research taking place within ecosystems that uniquely challenge the biological limitations of life in the southwestern U.S. or globally. Competitive applicants will be excited about developing interdisciplinary collaborations, and because partial funding for these positions comes from the U.S. N.S.F. Center for Analysis and Prediction of Pandemic Expansion (APPEX) program, students will be expected to develop some collaborative research in this area during their time in graduate school. The Presidential Graduate Assistantship position offers: - Financial Support: Four years of funding (full tuition coverage, stipend, and health insurance), contingent upon satisfactory academic progress. - Research Opportunities & Mentorship: In addition to training in research, the PGA program will provide training in collaboration, mentorship, teaching, and science communication. The doctoral student will work with a principal mentor to develop an Individual Development Plan tailored to their research interests and career goals. - Professional Development: The doctoral student will join a cohort of scholars across ASU and participate in specialized training, workshops, networking, and mentorship opportunities provided by the Office of Inclusive Excellence and the Graduate College. Faculty Recruiting PhD students: - Becky Ball focuses on the impacts of human activities on soil biology and biogeochemistry in extreme ecosystems - Anthony Barley does research on the ecology, evolution, conservation, and genomics of reptiles and amphibians - Alli Cramer focuses on Marine ecology, Landscape ecology, Data Science, and Remote Sensing. - Nina Fefferman focuses on mathematical modelling of infectious diseases and conservation biology - Yixuan He focuses on graph machine learning, artificial intelligence, network analysis, and mathematical modelling. - Chad Johnson focuses on Animal behavior and urban ecology. - Sheila Miller Edwards focuses on mathematics, applied mathematics, network analysis, explainable artificial intelligence, machine learning, and use of AI in conservation. To Apply: To be considered for the program, students should submit a CV and a 500 word statement describing their research/educational background, graduate school research interests (including how training within the graduate program they would seek a PhD from, and under the particular faculty member(s) with which they would seek training, uniquely fits in that context), as well as the ways in which they anticipate advancing the ASU Charter during their graduate education. For full consideration for the PGA program, submit the above to your proposed ISEE primary faculty mentor by January 1, 2026. Following selection by the ISEE program committee, the students will seek admission through one of the graduate programs within the units above, and thus will need to meet admission requirements as specified by their anticipated Ph.D. program home. Contact Us: For questions, please email one of the faculty recruiting students listed above. About Arizona State University: ASU exemplifies a new prototype for the American public research university. As articulated in the ASU Charter, ASU is a comprehensive public research university, measured not by whom it excludes, but by whom it includes and how they succeed; advancing research and discovery of public value; and assuming fundamental responsibility for the economic, social, cultural, and overall health of the communities it serves. Anthony Barley (to subscribe/unsubscribe the EvolDir send mail to golding@mcmaster.ca)