Post-Doctoral Position Available Starting January 2006

The Department of Statistics, University of Florida, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, is looking to fill a Post-Doctoral position starting January 2006 contingent on funding. The position includes collaborative and methodological research on animal behavior and use of space as described by random walks (pure and correlated) in bounded, heterogeneous space.

The candidate it is expected to participate fully in the collaborative project entitled "Movement of farm animals: techniques for accurately assessing effects of experimental factors". The research is a joint effort between the University of Florida, Statistics Department (Dr. Mary Christman), and the University of Maryland, Department of Animal and Avian Sciences (Dr. Inma Estevez). It is motivated by studies of animal movement in bounded space and includes the effects of behavioral interactions, environmental factors, and time-dependent changes in the random walks. The successful candidate is expected to build a conceptual computer model for simulation of individual-based movements that can be used in development of new statistical methods for experimental design and sampling. Of particular interest in this project is the development of statistical models with sufficient power to predict the behavioral response of confined animals to variations in their physical and social environment (such as variations in environmental design, group size and densities). The computer models will be validated with real animal data. Because of the collaborative nature of this project the candidate will be expected to travel occasionally to the University of Maryland according to the needs of the project.


PhD in animal behavior or similar with strong quantitative training or experience in statistical modeling required. Please send Vita, transcript, and three reference letters to Dr. Mary Christman, Chair Search Committee, University of Florida, Statistics-IFAS, Gainesville, FL 32611-0339. For further questions e-mail: mcxman@ifas.ufl.edu Application deadline: 11/17/2005. EO Institution.


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Inma Estevez Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Department of Animal and Avian Sciences
University of Maryland
College Park, MD 20742

Telph: 301-405-5779
Fax: 301-314-9059