Recruiting Wundergrads for Two Funded MS Positions

[Blount, Kyle]

Hi all,

I am reaching out to see if you might have any undergrads who would be interested in completing a thesis-based Master's in my lab. I anticipate hiring two MS students (at UIS, we use the term "Graduate Research Assistant", or GRA) beginning Fall 2026 as follows:

• One GRA on NSF-funded project for two years of MS study (covers stipend and tuition)
• Quick intro to the project is here https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2432654&HistoricalAwards=false 
• Tasks primarily include field work, site maintenance, data downloads and maintenance, and data analysis — could potentially involve some remote sensing and/or microclimate modeling depending on the GRA's interest and skillset; I will be hiring a Postdoc on this project as well to finish up
• One GRA on an Internal Research Fellowship (covers stipend and tuition)
• This position will likely support and contribute to the NSF project above but will have some flexibility towards designing their own project along the same themes, ideally either completing microclimate modeling or field work of urban ET

The expectation for either position would be to join the UIS M.S. Program in Environmental Sciences and complete a Thesis as a closure. There's more information for prospective students here: https://www.uis.edu/environmental-studies/prospective-students. Another great opportunity for funding here is our Graduate Public Service Internship program (https://www.uis.edu/gradinterns/gpsi-program), which can also pay a stipend and tuition for the M.S. degree at UIS.

To be included in the eligible applicant pool, students must apply to the MS program and (at the same time) indicate their interest in GA and GRA positions (and make sure you complete the questionnaire and provide all three references). The deadline to be in this pool is March 15, but there will be another round of hiring in May/June if the positions are not filled in March.

Please let me know if you have any questions, encourage interested students to reach out, and share with other colleagues who might have interested students! I want to make sure to get some stellar folks in these positions!

Kyle

Kyle Blount, Ph.D. ​​(they/them)

Assistant Professor of Ecohydrology, University of Illinois Springfield

Water and Terrestrial Ecohydrology for Resilience (WATER) Lab

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