We are seeking a PhD student for a project on blue and fin whale biology and Antarctic historical ecology. This project will use an archive of baleen plates from Antarctic blue and fin whales harvested in the mid 1940s that was recently rediscovered in the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History. A suite of modern molecular techniques will be applied to these archived specimens to ask how blue and fin whale foraging and reproduction responded to climate variability, changes at the base of the food web, and whaling activities in the early 1940s. Methods will include bulk stable isotope analysis, compound-specific stable isotope analyses (CSIA-AA), and hormone analysis. The student will be based at the University of North Carolina Wilmington under the supervision of Dr. Alyson Fleming in collaboration with Drs. Ari Friedlaender and Matt McCarthy (UC Santa Cruz) and Dr. Kathleen Hunt (George Mason University). Candidates should have a strong background in lab work and familiarity with stable isotope or hormone methods (ideally both). The position will require frequent/extended travel to the museum for sampling and the collaborating universities for laboratory analyses and meetings. The candidate should have strong communication (oral and written) and interpersonal skills given the collaborative nature of the project. The student must be comfortable with working independently and overseeing undergraduate or Master’s students. General requirements include a bachelor and Master’s degree in either biology, marine science, or ecology. A Master’s degree is required to enter UNCW as a PhD student. Interested candidates should send a CV and cover letter to Dr. Fleming at FlemingA@uncw.edu.