Position Summary

The student worker research assistant (SWRA) in biodiversity will work in the Schmidt biocontrol lab. The SWRA will be recruited as part of funded projects working with determining food web interactions and biological control of insect pests, which aims at understanding the interactions between predators, the environment and pests of agricultural commodities. The SWRA will mainly work on data of insects of agronomic (crop pests) and their natural enemies (insects and spiders). The SWRA will interact with researchers and the Schmidt biocontrol research team. The responsibilities will include data collection, data input, and for high achieving SWRA, will be assigned independent research projects that can be used for internships and for the presentation of scientific results at local and regional conferences.

Duties/Responsibilities

• molecular gut content data analyses of predators
• biodiversity sampling
• data input from raw data sheets
• collecting predators from the field research projects
• maintaining insect cultures
• maintaining plant cultures
• laboratory up keep and cleaning

Physical Demands

Work outside in mild to very hot conditions, and be capable of learning complex laboratory procedures (molecular biology techniques and entomology). Driving.