A funded fisheries graduate assistantship is one of the few ways to get paid to study fish that are rewriting the ecology of two of North America’s largest rivers. Iowa State University is recruiting an MS or PhD student to work with Dr. Michael Weber on invasive carp and native fishes in the Missouri and Mississippi basins. The start date is after January 4, 2027. The posted salary begins at $28,800 per year. Applications received before October 26, 2026 are guaranteed consideration, and the listing deadline is November 20, 2026.
This is not a classroom-only award. It is a research assistantship built around acoustic telemetry, field seasons, agency partnerships, and a thesis the student helps shape. For applicants who want a fisheries career in management, invasion biology, or movement ecology, the timing matters. Invasive carp are still expanding in the upper Mississippi system, and the datasets that describe that expansion are already large enough to support a graduate thesis.
Scholarship Summary
- Host Country: USA
- Host University: Iowa State University
- Scholarship Category: Masters Scholarships / PhD Scholarships
- Eligible Country: All Countries
- Scholarship Benefits: Research assistantship salary starting at $28,800 per year, etc.
- Scholarship Deadline: November 20, 2026 (applications received before October 26, 2026 receive guaranteed consideration; the position remains open until filled)
What This Assistantship Actually Funds
The position sits in the Department of Natural Resource Ecology and Management at Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa. The university’s main site is iastate.edu. Department information is at the NREM homepage.
The posted terms are specific:
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- Degree track: MS or PhD in fisheries or a related field
- Salary: starting at $28,800 per year
- Time commitment: at least 40 hours per week
- Location: Ames, Iowa, with fieldwork in the Missouri and Mississippi basins
- Start: spring semester, after January 4, 2027
- Education required for the listing: a bachelor’s degree
- Experience required on the listing: none, though fieldwork and strong academic records are preferred
- How to apply first: email a package to Dr. Michael Weber at mjw@iastate.edu
The research evaluates invasive carp and native fishes, including sturgeon and blue suckers. The questions cover behavior, movement ecology, and population dynamics. The student will use large acoustic telemetry databases rather than starting from a blank map. That matters. Telemetry projects often fail because tags, receivers, and multi-year detection histories take years to build. Here, those histories already exist.
Day-to-day work includes field data collection, supervision of field technicians, data entry and analysis, and annual reports. Thesis topics can be developed in part around the student’s interests, within the carp and native-fish framework.
Why Invasive Carp Research Still Hires Graduate Students
Silver carp and bighead carp, often grouped as invasive or bigheaded carp, have spread through much of the Mississippi River system since the 1970s. They compete with native filter-feeding fishes, alter plankton communities, and create a public-safety problem when silver carp leap from boat wakes. State and federal agencies still need movement rates, spawning cues, tributary use, and population responses if barriers, harvest, and habitat work are going to be more than guesswork.
Dr. Weber’s group has published on common carp impacts, invasive carp reproduction in upper Mississippi tributaries, and silver carp movement and dispersal. A recent Iowa State thesis advised in his group assessed reproductive suitability and electric barrier performance in Iowa rivers. That is the kind of applied question this assistantship sits next to: where carp can spawn, how far they move, and what native species such as sturgeon and blue suckers are doing in the same rivers.
Acoustic telemetry is the method that makes those questions answerable at basin scale. Fish carry transmitters. Receivers log detections. Over years, the archive shows residence, tributary entry, dam passage, and seasonal shifts. A student who can clean, model, and interpret that archive leaves with skills agencies actually hire for.
Who Should Apply, and Who Should Wait
The listing is open to MS applicants with a bachelor’s degree and PhD applicants with a master’s degree in fisheries or a related field. Preferred candidates show fisheries fieldwork, critical thinking, written and oral communication, analytical skill, and a strong academic record. The work is physical. Applicants must be willing to work long hours outdoors.
The Fisheries Biology graduate program at Iowa State is open to domestic and international students. International applicants should plan for English-proficiency scores and a longer admission timeline. The Graduate College notes that international students should apply at least three months before the term starts. Spring term graduate deadlines and program rules are on that same page.
Department expectations for the MS in Fisheries Biology are outlined on the NREM fisheries degree page. A thesis MS is typically 30 credits, with coursework and research. Assistantship students in the department are commonly supported with a monthly stipend, healthcare benefits, and partial tuition remission. The job notice itself confirms the salary floor of $28,800. Tuition and insurance should be confirmed in writing with Dr. Weber before you decline other offers. Do not treat third-party scholarship blogs as the offer letter. Several of those pages recycle older figures and earlier deadlines.
Good-fit backgrounds include:
- Fisheries, wildlife, ecology, biology, or a related bachelor’s or master’s degree
- Field experience with boats, nets, electrofishing, or telemetry, even if the listing does not require it
- Comfort with data, not only with waders
- Interest in invasive species, large-river ecology, or native fish conservation
- Willingness to collaborate with state and federal partners and with other students
A weak fit is someone who wants a fully remote degree or a project with no field season. This assistantship expects outdoor work and at least 40 hours a week.
How the Application Actually Works
There are two steps, and skipping the first one wastes the second.
First, email Dr. Michael Weber. The preferred contact is mjw@iastate.edu. Send a cover letter, CV, unofficial transcripts, and contact information for three references. Say whether you are applying for the MS or the PhD, when you can start, and which part of the project you want to own. A short note on analytical tools you already use, such as R or GIS, is more useful than a generic statement that you love fish.
Priority review is for files received before October 26, 2026. The published listing deadline is November 20, 2026, and applications are accepted until the position is filled. Early files are the ones that get a real read.
Second, formal admission to Iowa State requires faculty sponsorship. The NREM admissions process tells prospective students to contact faculty before submitting the official graduate application. Applications without a faculty nomination are not reviewed. After Dr. Weber agrees to sponsor you, you complete the Graduate College application, official transcripts, and recommendation letters. International applicants also submit English scores and a financial statement.
A cover letter that gets read usually does four things:
- Names the invasive carp and native fish telemetry project in the first paragraph
- Matches your degree to the MS or PhD requirement
- Gives one concrete example of fieldwork, analysis, or writing
- States that you can start in January 2027 and can work long field days
What the Student Will Actually Learn
The scientific payoff is a thesis on movement or population dynamics in a system managers already care about. The professional payoff is broader.
You will handle a real telemetry database, not a class exercise. You will supervise technicians, which is the skill that separates a field hand from a crew lead. You will write annual reports for partners, which is closer to agency work than a seminar paper. You will sit in a collaborative group with other graduate students, undergraduates, and biologists from state and federal agencies.
Iowa State’s fisheries and wildlife graduate training is tied to the Iowa Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit and to partners such as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Iowa Department of Natural Resources. That network is how many students turn a thesis chapter into a first permanent job.
Graduates of this kind of project tend to leave with:
- Acoustic telemetry design, download, and data filtering experience
- Population and movement analysis for large-river fishes
- Invasive carp biology, including reproduction and dispersal
- Exposure to native species that are harder to study, especially sturgeon and blue suckers
- Report writing and oral communication aimed at both scientists and managers
Life and cost context in Ames
Ames is a university city in central Iowa, about a half-hour north of Des Moines. The assistantship is full time. At $28,800 to start, the stipend is a salary, not a living grant sized for a family without other support. Applicants should budget housing, fees the assistantship does not cover, and a winter field schedule. Confirm what portion of tuition is remitted before you calculate an international budget. The NREM funding note for master’s assistantships describes a stipend, healthcare, and partial tuition remission as the usual package. That is a department pattern, not a line in this specific advertisement.
Spring 2027 is the intended start. Anyone who needs a visa should treat October and November 2026 as the real window, not a soft deadline.
How this compares with a typical scholarship post
Many listings labeled “fully funded scholarship” are assistantships with a stipend and a tuition waiver that still require admission, a supervisor, and work. This one is honest about the work. You are paid to do research. You are expected on the river and at the desk. The scientific subject, invasive carp plus native river fishes, is specific enough that a motivated applicant can write a cover letter that does not sound like every other fisheries application in the country.
If your goal is a funded fisheries graduate assistantship with a defined field system, a named supervisor, and a January 2027 start, this file is worth sending before the priority date.
Send the package to Dr. Michael Weber at mjw@iastate.edu. Include the cover letter, CV, unofficial transcripts, and three references. Mention the Missouri and Mississippi acoustic telemetry project, your degree target, and your January availability. Then watch for a sponsorship decision before you pay an application fee. Program rules live on the Graduate College fisheries page and the NREM admissions page.
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