The School of Civil & Environmental Engineering, and Construction Management (CECM) at the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) is seeking a motivated PhD student to work under the guidance of Dr. Vikram Kapoor (https://ceid.utsa.edu/vkapoor/) on projects related to environmental impacts of nanomaterials, microbial source tracking and pathogen detection. The student will employ research techniques including: constructing and operating experimental bioreactors, measuring and modeling microbial kinetics, quantifying functional genes of key microbial groups via qPCR, as well as multi-omic sequencing of the microbial communities. Desired start date for the position is Fall 2023 or Spring 2024.
Applicants should possess a B.S. or M.S. in Environmental Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Biotechnology, Microbiology, or a related field. Admitted applicants will receive a competitive salary, tuition, and benefits. Interested students must first apply and be admitted to the PhD program in Environmental Science & Engineering (https://future.utsa.edu/programs/doctoral/environmental-science-enginee…), or Civil Engineering (https://future.utsa.edu/programs/doctoral/civil-engineering/). In addition, interested students should send the following information to Dr. Vikram Kapoor (vikram.kapoor@utsa.edu) with a subject line as “Ph.D. Application_Your Name”: a cover letter stating your research interests and career goals, your C.V., names and contact information of at least two references, and a copy of representative peer-reviewed publications (if applicable).
The University of Texas at San Antonio is a Hispanic Serving University specializing in cyber, health, fundamental futures, and social-economic development. With more than 34,000 students, it is the largest university in the San Antonio metropolitan region. UTSA advances knowledge through research and discovery, teaching and learning, community engagement and public service. The university embraces multicultural traditions and serves as a center for intellectual and creative resources as well as a catalyst for socioeconomic development and the commercialization of intellectual property—for Texas, the nation and the world. UTSA is a Carnegie R1, urban-serving, Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) deeply committed to student success and academic excellence including growing doctoral graduation. The UTSA faculty enjoy fruitful collaborations with colleagues at our partnering institutions here in San Antonio including UT Health San Antonio (UTHSA), Southwest Research Institute (SwRI), and Texas Biomedical Research Institute (TBRI). In addition, UTSA’s recent classification as a Carnegie R1 institution places it among the top 4% of research institutions in the nation and with 18% of faculty who identify as Hispanic/Latino, UTSA ranks 2nd among all 20 Hispanic Serving Research Universities (HSRUs) for diverse faculty.
UTSA, situated in a global city that has been a crossroads of peoples and cultures for centuries, values diversity and inclusion in all aspects of university life. As an institution expressly founded to advance the education of Mexican Americans and other underserved communities, our university is committed to ending generations of discrimination and inequity. UTSA, a premier public research university, fosters academic excellence through a community of dialogue, discovery and innovation that embraces the uniqueness of each voice.