"Postdoctoral Researcher - NRCS"

Job Description

The Postdoctoral Researcher will be pivotal in environmental stressor mapping and research activities to enhance extension and outreach efforts. Responsibilities include identifying and developing stressor maps, establishing a demonstration research testbed on the PVAMU Research farm, and implementing climate-smart production practices on selected farms. Additionally, the Coordinator will educate stakeholders, including farmers, on climate-smart resiliency and environmental benefits, and conduct flood, drought, and soil loss analyses at county and farm levels. They will assist in field and laboratory experiments to quantify carbon sequestration potentials and collect data on environmental stressors. Other duties involve manuscript development, grant proposal writing, participation in extension activities, collaboration with fellow researchers, and support for undergraduate and graduate students. This role also entails assisting principal and co-investigators and contributing to the university's commitment to teaching, research, and service excellence.

This position is funded by a grant or restricted funds. Continued employment is contingent on the renewal of grant or restricted funding.

Responsibilities:

• Lead USDA-NRCS funded project
• Assist the principal investigator in ongoing research projects (experimental and modeling) related to hydrology, flood, drought, soil erosion and field experiments
• Assist with the spatial data downscaling, prediction, evaluation, and impacts of land use/cover changes on eco-hydrologic processes, irrigation, and nutrient best management practices for sustainable use of natural resources.
• Provide leadership and participation in in-situ data collection and analysis for modeling.
• Assist in writing research reports, manuscripts, and grants, and present results at scientific meetings.
• Performs other duties as assigned.

Required Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:

• Experience in hydrological modeling, flood modeling, GIS, carbon, and crop modeling
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
• Strong quantitative and programming experience in R, Python, C, C++ and/or comparable languages.
• Strong numerical modeling and analytical and statistical skills.
• Strong interest in working with multidisciplinary teams.

Required Education and Experience:

A Ph.D. in earth science, geography, eco-hydrology, civil engineering, geosciences, agricultural engineering, or any other relevant academic field emphasizing remote sensing, carbon dynamics, climate change eco-hydrology.

Preferred Qualifications:

A Ph.D. in earth science, eco-hydrology, civil engineering, geosciences, agricultural engineering, or any other relevant academic field emphasizing carbon dynamics, climate change eco-hydrology and its impact assessment, and natural resource management. 1-3 years of related work experience. Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML). Considerable experience in hydrology, flood-drought analysis, carbon dynamics, climate change, spatial data analysis, laboratory analytical techniques, field research design, and project implementations at different scales (field and watershed). Interested in hydrology/flood modeling, carbon modeling, and crop modeling. Strong record of peer-reviewed publications and experience preparing grant proposals. Able to work with and train undergraduate and graduate students.