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Graduate Students

I'm recruiting three funded PhD students this year, starting Spring or Fall 2027.

I welcome applications from motivated students interested in paleoclimate science and environmental data science. Through the Paleoclimate Dynamics Laboratory at Northern Arizona University, I offer opportunities for graduate students and postdoctoral researchers to engage in cutting-edge research. Three funded PhD positions are currently open, each on a different project; all can begin in Spring or Fall 2027.

Labeled lake sediment core tubes laid out after fieldwork

NSF-funded · Spring or Fall 2027

Paleoclimate Data Assimilation

Reconstruct 21,000 years of North American climate by fusing proxy records with climate models, powering continent-scale ecosystem research.

Details ↓

 Weather balloon carrying an aerosol sensor package into a cloudy sky

Privately funded · Spring or Fall 2027

Wildfire Smoke & Aerosols

Measure firefighter smoke exposure in the field and build high-resolution smoke forecasts with our Cornell and Flagstaff fire partners.

Details ↓

 Researchers coring sediments from a raft on a turquoise alpine lake

NSF-funded · Spring or Fall 2027

AI Lake Model Emulators

Build machine-learning emulators of lake models to test whether seasonal proxy biases explain the Holocene climate conundrum.

Details ↓

Current Opportunities

PhD Position: Paleoclimate Data Assimilation for North American Ecosystem Research

Funding: NSF-funded project
Duration: 4 years
Start Date: Spring or Fall 2027

Project Overview

How much climate change can an ecosystem absorb before its boundaries move? North America warmed by roughly 6°C between the Last Glacial Maximum and today, a natural experiment comparable in magnitude to the warming projected for this century. This NSF-funded collaboration, led by Jack Williams at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, uses that 21,000-year record to quantify how the continent's major ecosystem boundaries, from Arctic treeline to the prairie-forest edge, responded as climate changed around them. NAU leads the climate side of the project: building the reconstructions the ecosystem analysis depends on.

Your Role at NAU

Working with Dr. McKay and Dr. Michael Erb, you will lead the development of new paleoclimate reconstructions for North America using paleoclimate data assimilation, which fuses what proxies and models each do best:

You will build on infrastructure our group develops and maintains, including the LiPDverse proxy database and the PReSto reconstruction platform, and your reconstructions will flow directly into the ecosystem-sensitivity analyses at partner institutions.

Ideal Candidate

PhD Position: Wildfire Smoke Exposure and Aerosol Science

Funding: Privately funded NAU-Cornell research collaboration (research assistantship support, supplemented by teaching assistantships)
Duration: 5-year project
Start Date: Spring or Fall 2027

Project Overview

Wildfire smoke is a growing operational and public health problem in the American West. Firefighters work in smoke for long hours, yet sustained, crew-level exposure measurements barely exist, and the smoke forecasts available to fire managers can't resolve the local terrain, convection, and drainage flows that control where smoke actually goes. This long-running NAU-Cornell collaboration tackles both problems directly, in partnership with Flagstaff-area fire managers.

Your Role at NAU

You will help lead the Arizona side of the project, with room to shape your dissertation around the parts that excite you most:

The project includes a semester embedded with our collaborators at Cornell, and close work with fire management partners means your results feed directly into decisions about firefighter health and prescribed fire.

Ideal Candidate

PhD Position: AI Lake Model Emulators and the Holocene Climate Conundrum

Funding: NSF-funded collaborative project (NAU, University at Buffalo, University of Montana)
Duration: 4 years
Start Date: Spring or Fall 2027

Project Overview

Climate models and proxy reconstructions disagree about global temperature over the past 12,000 years, a mismatch known as the "Holocene Conundrum." A leading hypothesis is that the proxies, many of which come from lake sediments, record particular seasons rather than the whole year. This project tests that hypothesis at global scale by making lake process models fast enough to run everywhere: we are building physics-informed machine-learning emulators of a widely used lake model, an AI downscaling pipeline that converts coarse paleoclimate model output into the high-resolution weather those emulators need, and a Bayesian framework that confronts the results with a global compilation of Holocene lake temperature records.

Your Role at NAU

You will join a multi-institution team spanning NAU, the University at Buffalo, and the University of Montana, working across the project with deep-learning architectures for emulation and downscaling, paleoclimate model output and proxy data, and the Bayesian seasonality analysis. The project also builds open-source emulator tools intended for process models well beyond limnology, and includes cross-training with the partner institutions and an early-career workshop. Your dissertation can emphasize the machine learning, the paleoclimate dynamics, or both.

Ideal Candidate

How to Apply (all positions)

Contact Dr. McKay directly with your CV, research interests, and a brief statement of why the project appeals to you. Early inquiries are encouraged.

We are also always interested in hearing from motivated potential students and collaborators for other projects.

General Information for Prospective Students

Graduate Programs at NAU

Ph.D. Programs:

Master's Programs:

More on all of these programs at the School of Earth and Sustainability site.

Research Areas

Students working with me typically work on projects related to:

Skills and Background

Successful students typically have backgrounds in:

How to Apply

For Graduate Students

  1. Contact Dr. McKay directly with your research interests and career goals, CV or resume, unofficial transcripts, and a brief description of relevant experience.
  2. Formal application to the appropriate NAU graduate program, mentioning Dr. McKay as your preferred advisor, with letters of recommendation.

For Postdocs and Visiting Scientists

For Undergraduate Students

About Northern Arizona University

NAU is located in Flagstaff, Arizona, at 7,000 feet elevation on the Colorado Plateau. The location provides easy access to diverse field sites including high-elevation lakes in the San Juan Mountains of Colorado, desert and montane ecosystems, and the Colorado River basin. Flagstaff offers excellent outdoor recreation opportunities and is home to Lowell Observatory and the U.S. Geological Survey's Astrogeology Science Center.

Ready to join our research team? Please don't hesitate to reach out with questions about research opportunities, graduate programs, or life in Flagstaff.