Postdoctoral Research Associate I, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

The science goals of this project (a collaboration funded by the U.S. Department of Energy and the National Science Foundation's EMERGE Institute) are to discover and predict how methane-cycling microbial soil communities interact with wetland ecology and gas transport processes to affect ecosystem carbon and methane cycling across lakes and wetlands of Arctic Sweden.

The position is in the research group of Dr. Scott Saleska, with co-mentorship by Dr. Rick Wehr at Aerodyne Research, Inc., We work as part of a national and international team comparing ecosystem and isotope dynamics to molecular microbial ecology (e.g. of methane cycling organisms) from Arctic Sweden to Amazonia.

This is a year-to-year appointment, contingent upon funding and performance (funding is currently available for up to three years).

Outstanding UA benefits include health, dental, vision, and life insurance; paid vacation, sick leave, and holidays; UA/ASU/NAU tuition reduction for the employee and qualified family members; access to UA recreation and cultural activities; and more!

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The candidate will
lead computational analyses and interpretation of observations of isotopic
composition of fluxes and concentrations of CH4 and CO2,
and work as part of an international team comparing carbon flux dynamics to the
molecular microbial ecology of methane cycling organisms. The candidate will
use a computational modeling framework (including exploration of machine
learning approaches) to interpret field observations; and collaborate with an
interdisciplinary team of ecosystem modelers, microbial biologists, and wetland
ecologists.

Knowledge, Skills & Abilities:

• Familiarity with C++ programming language
• Familiarity with machine learning techniques
• Willingness and ability to work independently when required

• Possess a doctorate degree upon hire.
• Experience in a technical background related to managing instrumentation.
• Experience
  in publishing material in peer review literature

• Strong interest and experience in team-based interdisciplinary science.