The Sala Lab at Arizona State University is looking for motivated undergraduate students to participate in research activities in grassland ecosystem ecology, for 10 weeks, during the summer of 2025. Successful applicants will work with peer students, faculty, graduate students, technicians, and postdocs to assist with ongoing rainfall manipulation experiments, vegetation and soil sampling, and other field surveys at the Jornada Experimental Range (~25 miles from Las Cruces, NM). Additionally, participants will have the opportunity to work with Sala Lab members and the PI to develop a personalized research project. Students can expect to conduct field work in summer weather conditions and live on-site at the Jornada Headquarters. Successful applicants will be awarded a stipend of $7,000, which is to cover food, travel, and personal project costs.

The Jornada Basin Long Term Ecological Research Program is focused on the ecology of drylands in the southwest USA, including the causes and consequences of alternative ecosystem states and the expansion of woody plants into grasslands resulting in more “desert like” conditions. By conducting long-term precipitation manipulation experiments, we are interested in how long-term changes to precipitation amount and variability affect ecosystem functioning.

More information on the Sala Lab and LTER is available at:

https://sala.lab.asu.edu

https://lter.jornada.nmsu.edu/