Harnessing Microbes for Sustainable Food Production-Undergraduate Student Research positions

Project title: Harnessing Microbes for Sustainable Food Production
Project summary: Multiple aspects of farming practices and operations need to be optimized simultaneously and coherently to make food production sustainable. Productivity needs to be maintained while soil nutrients, water quality and farm waste need to be managed properly to mitigate negative impacts of farming on the surrounding ecosystems, so people in the next generations continue to receive ecosystem services.

Job description includes: 
Two positions are open related to this education project; a) undergraduate research
assistant, and b) undergraduate education/science communication assistant. For the a) undergraduate
research assistant position, we are seeking two undergraduate students who are passionate about
studying microbial roles in sustainable agriculture. The students will participate in both field and lab work during the project. The field work includes growing crops under different soil treatments and collecting soil samples, while lab work includes observing soil and plant‐associated microbes using microscopes, extraction of DNA, DNA sequencing, and analysis of DNA sequence data.

If you are interested in these student assistant positions, please send a brief statement
of interest (250 words) and a short CV (1 page) to Dr. Masa Fujimoto (mfujimoto@ufl.edu) and Dr. Ann Wilkie (acwilkie@ufl.edu) via email (please copy both) by September 30th. Previous research or outreach experience is not required. We are keen to have students who are passionate about sustainable agriculture, sustainable resource uses, microbiology, and science communication on our team, and are excited to help you achieve your career goals.