Are you passionate about understanding climate and environmental change?
Join the Paleoclimate & Water Lab!
The Paleoclimate & Water Lab will launch at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville in January 2027. We care deeply about careful science, meaningful collaboration, and respectful mentorship. Our work brings together field, laboratory, and computational methods to understand how climate variability shapes water and ecosystems across timescales.
Potential research areas
I am interested in working with students on projects related to one or more of the following areas:
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Tropical hydroclimate and environmental change using lake and wetland sediments from Southeast Asia, including Thailand.
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Linkages among past climate change, water availability, ecosystems, and societies.
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Large-scale tropical monsoon dynamics and hydroclimate variability
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Proxy-model integration and isotope-enable climate simulation.
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Proxy calibration and method development for sediment-based proxies, such as leaf waxes.
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Regional climate, fire, and ecological variability in Tennessee and the Southern Appalachians.
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Lake and reservoir responses to climate change, including water blaance, quality, and ecosystem dynamics.
Opportunities
Because paleoclimate research is highly interdisciplinary, students may come from a wide range of backgrounds, including geology, geochemistry, climate science, ecology, environmental science, and computation. I welcome students who are curious, thoughtful, careful, and excited to work across disciplines. Prior experience with geochemistry, coding, GIS, fieldwork, or modeling can be helpful, but it is not required for every project. Strong applicants will bring reliability, attention to detail, respect for collaborators and communities, and a willingness to learn new methods.
Graduate Students
I will be recruiting two Ph.D. and/or M.S. to begin in Fall 2027. Prospective students should plan to apply during the Fall 2026 application cycle. If you are interested, contact me beginning in August 2026 at jsaelim@utk.edu with a short introduction, your research interests, relevant experience, and why you are interested in working together. Please include a CV or resume. I am also happy to discuss potential fellowship and funding opportunities, including the NSF GRFP when appropriate.
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