Deadline - NPN Postdoctoral Researcher Application

Posting Title: Postdoctoral Researcher – Phenological Forecasting
Location: initially remote, location TBD
Position Type: Regular
Hours Per Week: 40
Anticipated Start Date: October 1, 2020 (12 – 24 months of funding)

Job Description:

Applicants are invited to apply for a postdoctoral position to develop phenological models in support of ongoing efforts to create a continental-scale forecast of mosquito activity. This project includes (1) developing predictive models of seasonality of mosquito species representative of specific life-history strategies and (2) implementing these models to generate real-time and short-term forecasts of mosquito activity as well as predictions of future changes in seasonal patterns of mosquito activity. This position is supported through funding from a US Geological Service Powell Center grant.

See full listing on https://usanpn.org/MosquitoPostDoc

Job responsibilities include the following:

• Integrate and synthesize large-scale mosquito monitoring datasets with environmental data (temperature, rainfall, hydrology) and the extensive literature on mosquito life-history-climate functional responses to model specific phenometrics (to be selected in conjunction with stakeholder communities and working group).
• Generate predictive relationships between climate variability and mosquito phenology at a macro-ecological scale.
• Implement these models to generate real-time and short-term forecasts of mosquito activity as well as predictions of future changes in seasonal patterns of mosquito activity.
• Effectively communicate and interact with scientists to define the requirements of the simulations and models. Obtain necessary input data for simulations and provide meaningful interpretation of modeling results to guide development of a continental-scale forecast of mosquito phenology.
• Disseminate knowledge through publications in technical journals and presentations at conferences, symposia, and review meetings. Provide reports on technical work and input to peer-reviewed publications and presentations.
• Collaborate with a working group and project investigators to plan and design projects, determine technical objectives, and interact with and provide regular project reports to a government client (USGS Powell Center).
• Organize and facilitate two USGS Powell Center workshops in collaboration with working group leads

Basic Qualifications:

Must be a Ph. D. graduate in Ecology, Bioinformatics, Statistics, Applied Math, or a related field.

Additional Required Qualifications:

• A strong publication record in the peer-reviewed scientific literature, with at least one first author publication
• Demonstrated experience communicating results at national or international conferences
• Ability to work independently and in teams to deliver high-quality results within aggressive timelines.
• Strong background in ecological forecasting; fluent in numerical methods, statistics, and/or Bayesian analysis
• Familiarity with model development and/or population modelling
• Fluency in Python or R

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with high performance and/or cloud computing, linux shells, and GPU usage
• Experience with collaborative coding and version control systems (e.g. GitHub)
• Development of end-user applications of models
• Exposure to phenological data
• Familiarity with integrating disparate datasets that collected by variety of agencies

To express interest in this position, send your CV to Katie LeVan at klevan@battelleecology.org