Modeling

Develop cutting-edge computational tools that provide 3D views of Earth’s crust using gravity and magnetic fields. Results of these efforts will have a wide range of applications from mapping natural resources to evaluating natural hazards. These tools will be applied to airborne geophysical data, especially those collected for the USGS Earth MRI effort.

Where are invasive species likely to be introduced or become abundant? How should managers respond? On Hawaii and other Pacific Islands numerous invasive species have altered ecosystems, and new species continue to be introduced. Statistical analyses can characterize risk and inform response strategies.

Where are invasive species likely to be introduced or become abundant? How should managers respond? On Hawaii and other Pacific Islands numerous invasive species have altered ecosystems, and new species continue to be introduced. Statistical analyses can characterize risk and inform response strategies.

Earthquakes, such as the 2011 M5.7 Prague, Oklahoma, and recent northern Texas M4 event, demonstrate the need for improved understanding of site amplification and seismic hazards in the central United States. The intern will be trained by USGS scientists to use the state-of-the-art site investigation methods at seismic station sites in California before applying the methods in Oklahoma and Texas.

Do fisheries managers know the impacts of improving recreational fishing technology on the populations of fish they manage? The role of gear innovations in recreational fisheries is understudied as a driver of overexploitation in inland waters. Examining technology advances will inform recreational managment.

The advent of national geophysical initiatives (e.g. EarthScope, AusLamp, SinoProbe) has started the race to develop regional- and national-scale geophysical models. In parallel, the need for such models is on the rise within the natural-hazard and resource sectors. This internship focuses on development of three-dimensional electrical resistivity models derived from magnetotelluric (MT) data.

Decision makers, water use stakeholders, and the public at large need intuitive visualizations of the status and trends in water use in order to make wise management decisions. How can we best turn newly available details on water use in the US into geospatial information that can be easily understood, without biasing that information. Help us create maps that make our water use data come alive.

Much unsaturated-zone water moves not as typically slow diffuse flow, but rapidly through preferential flow channels such as root holes and fractures. Impacts are profound and far-reaching for issues such as contaminant transport, ecohydrology, and aquifer recharge. Understanding is limited and accepted theory is lacking, making preferential flow a crucial and exciting area of earth science.

The goal of this project is to contribute to our understanding of anelastic path attenuation in ground-motion prediction equations (GMPEs) by searching for correlations between seismic attenuation models constrained by 3D geophysical observations and \ ground motion measurements at individual stations.

Northern New England is a fascinating landscape of conifers, unique wildlife, mountainous landscapes, and warming climates. Help us better understand whether red squirrel populations are responding to climate change and predict how that will impact the vulnerable boreal birds that they prey upon.

An opportunity to work with models of multivariate environmental and ecological processes from either a mathematical/statistical or scientific focus. The former would focus on elaborating current methods for making inferences or predictions from multivariate data while the latter would focus on using those current methods to better understand multivariate environmental or ecological processes.

We are inviting you to participate in an exciting project that brings together citizen science data from iNaturalist and other online platforms to improve currently static biodiversity databases. This project will ultimately identify invasive species, taxonomy changes, and potential climate migrants that will aid conservation efforts on public lands.