The Applied Cultural Evolution (ACE) Laboratory (https://timwaring.info/) at the University of Maine is seeking applicants for a fully-funded 4-year doctoral research assistantship on the adaptive cultural evolution of human behavior in a context of environmental and health threats.

The position is part of a new research project that seeks to understand how people learn and adapt to the threats of tick-borne disease in New England forests in relation to invasive plants. The project will (a) study the processes of social learning and cultural adaptation to tick threats in invaded woodlands, (b) investigate the ecological effects of invasive plants on tick ecology, and (c) translate findings through an outreach and education program for woodland owners. The project is led by Dr. Allison Gardner, Dr. Jessica Leahy, and Dr. Tim Waring at University of Maine. A successful applicant will work with a multidisciplinary team of biologists, ecologists, and social scientists in Maine and Vermont.

The assistantship will (a) develop a model of adaptive human cultural evolution in the context of environmental threats and (b) conduct a behavioral learning experiment to test implications of the model. Important tasks include reviewing theoretical models of cultural adaptation, selecting a model to fit the context, parameterizing the model with variables to match the learning system of forest tick threats in Maine, and refining and conducting an online behavioral experiment to test implications of causal complexity on human adaptive social learning. A successful applicant will work with a multidisciplinary team of biologists and social scientists in Maine and Vermont. This position builds o