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Post Doctoral Research Soil Scientist

Employer
USDA - Agricultural Research Service - Jornada Experimental Range
Location
Las Cruces, New Mexico
Salary
Salary Range: $64,649 - $100,739
Closing date
Sep 3, 2021

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(Early Alert/Outreach)

POST DOCTORAL POSITION- Las Cruces, New Mexico

RESEARCH SOIL SCIENTIST; GS-0470-11/12

Salary Range:   $ 64,649 - $ 100,739

 

The Jornada Experimental Range unit located in Las Cruces, New Mexico is recruiting for a Research Soil Scientist, Postdoctoral Research Associate position.  This is a temporary, full-time position with the USDA, Agricultural Research Service (ARS).  The Jornada is a unit of ARS focused on applications of ecological and soil science to dryland management and conservation (http://jornada.nmsu.edu).  The Jornada is a site within the ARS Long-Term Agro-Ecosystem Research Network and is a Long-Term Ecological Research site funded by the National Science Foundation. This project is in collaboration with the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service CEAP Grazing Lands team and the USDI Bureau of Land Management.

Description of Duties:  The selected candidate will work with a diverse partnership of scientists and natural resource managers, led by Dr. Sarah McCord and Dr. Nicholas Webb, to contribute to a new project to evaluate effects of variability in field and modelled soil properties on conceptual and process models that support land management. The position will evaluate the impacts of variability in soil property estimates on wind and water erosion predictions and interpretations of ecosystem dynamics (i.e., ecological sites). This position will work closely with data collected as part of national rangeland inventory and monitoring programs (USDI Bureau of Land Management Assessment, Inventory, and Monitoring, USDA Natural Resources Inventory), to assess the best approaches for using soils data together with vegetation condition information to support land management and conservation on US rangelands.

The project involves: 1) quantifying the variability in and accuracy of soil property estimates based on field observations and measurements, modeled estimates, and predictions (from digital soil maps and related approaches); 2) identifying and evaluating sources of variability in soils observations in national rangeland monitoring programs; 3) assessing the sensitivity of ecological site identification and erosion predictions to variability in field observations, digital soil mapping products, and the NRCS soils databases; and 4) contributing to the development of a soil particle size distribution database and spatial predictions to enable national wind erosion (AERO) model applications.

Qualification Requirements:  Ph.D in Soil Science or related discipline that was obtained within the last four years. Experience with systems processes that control soil-landscape relationships across a broad range of geomorphologies, soil-vegetation relationships, and relationships between different relatively static and relatively dynamic soil properties (particularly those that control water availability) and how they vary across space and time as well as experience coding and/or modeling (R, Python, Javascript) and knowledge of the U.S. soil survey desirable.

Certain citizenship restrictions apply.  Applications for this position will be accepted from both US Citizens and permanent residents as allowed by appropriations and statute.

Information on Employee Benefits is available at:  A Benefits Package will be authorized for appointments made for a period of more than one year.  Additional information about Federal benefits can be obtained at http://www.usajobs.gov/ResourceCenter  

 

For specific information on this position or to submit an application, contact:  Dr. Sarah McCord, USDA-ARS Jornada Experimental Range, MSC 3JER Box 30003, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM, 88003 or e-mail (sarah.mccord@usda.gov)

 

 

 

 

 

USDA, ARS, is an Equal Opportunity Employer and Provider.

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