Research Associate 2

Conducts independent research activities in the study of plant microbiome diversity and function, within controlled environment agriculture. Leads research activities including experiment testing, planning, setup and sampling, data generation and analysis. In the laboratory applies culture-independent approaches to study microbial communities in plants and other CEA compartments, including nucleic acid extraction, PCR, qPCR and application of bioinformatic pipelines. Maintains thorough records of research, including annotated bioinformatic pipelines. Prepares reports and manuscripts for publication. Trains and assists other laboratory personnel when needed. This position will be a temporary assignment for 1 year or less with fulltime hours, located at our Wooster campus for the College of Food, Agriculture, and Environmental Sciences.

Experience required:

• Experience with handling of microbial cultures, and molecular expertise (such as DNA/RNA extraction and PCR) and nucleic acid sequence data analysis (basic bioinformatics experience).
• Excellent organizational skills, and experience in manuscript preparation and publication.
• Experience in bioinformatics as it applies to plant microbiome analysis and familiarity with R language is desired.
• Undergraduate mentoring experience.

Minimum requirements:

Master's degree with a major in Plant Pathology, Molecular Biology, Microbiology, or related field, or equivalent experience required; 3 years of relevant experience required with bachelor's degree, or 1 year of relevant experience required with master's degree.

Desired requirements:

PhD with a major in Plant Pathology, Molecular Biology, Microbiology, or related field.