"Research Scientist II, Water Quality"

Job Description

The Idaho Water Resources Research Institute (IWRRI) is one of the nation’s 54 water research and technology centers. IWRRI coordinates research to support the water resource needs of the state of Idaho, the northwest region and the nation. IWRRI also facilitates and develops innovative education and outreach programs that provide research-generated information to water managers, agency research scientists and the public at large. IWRRI scientists conduct community-identified actionable water research with the opportunity to expand their research agenda by securing extramural competitive grants. These are non-tenure track research appointments housed within IWRRI with no formal teaching responsibilities.

Position Overview

Designs and manages all aspects of a research portfolio complimentary to that of other research scientists or research faculty. Often maintains active research collaborations external to the university.

Duties may include:

• Planning and conducting research in accordance with stipulated protocols and quality and safety standards
• Performing complex scientific analyses
• Developing new methods and guidelines for procedures
• Directing the development of recommendations for project solutions
• Performing peer review of scientific projects, studies or applications
• Developing technical scientific management guidelines
• Writing peer reviewed publications or presentations
• Resolving complex project-specific technical and regulatory issues
• Establishing work priorities and performance standards, hiring, training, evaluating staff, assigning and reviewing work
• Responsible for technical project management to include developing the scope of work, budgeting, scheduling, reporting, implementing field projects and approving scientific documents
• Participating in the development of grant proposals as named project contributor or primary investigator
• May have an independent research program that is complimentary to research objectives of a broader research group or department within the institution
• May include supervision of junior-level staff and students; does not include a full range of supervisory responsibilities
• Other duties as assigned

Required Experience

• Five years of research experience beyond receipt of doctoral degree
• Demonstrated record of research achievement
• Participation in the development and submission of sponsored project proposals

Required Education

Ph.D. in Hydrology, Engineering, Hydrogeology, Environmental Science or other related discipline

Additional Preferred

• Demonstrated ability to work independently and with an interdisciplinary team
• Experience serving as PI or Co-PI on extramurally funded research
• Demonstrated expertise in one or more of the following areas: water quality analysis, big data analytics, isotopic analysis
• Technical proficiency with quantitative data analytics and workflows (e.g. R, Python, GIS, Modflow, GitHub)
• Experience conducting interdisciplinary or community-engaged research and demonstrated success in working collaboratively across disciplines with a range of stakeholders
• Strong written and oral communication skills including peer-reviewed journals and experience communicating with non-academic audiences
• Record of two or more lead-author publications in peer reviewed journals
• Demonstrated record of research achievement
• Participation in the development and submission of sponsored project proposals

Special Instructions to Applicants

Applications received by August 3, 2025, will receive first consideration. In addition to the online application, please provide the following: CV including contact information for three (3) professional references, 1-page Cover Letter describing your research interests, how you meet the required and additional preferred qualifications, and how you envision contributing to the applied research mission of IWRRI. For questions, please contact: Kendra Kaiser, Department of Idaho Water Resources Research Institute, kkaiser@uidaho.edu