Postdoctoral Scholar

Special Information

• This position is an on-site position which requires the incumbent to complete their work primarily at an NAU site, campus, or facility with or without accommodation. Opportunities for remote work are rare.
• This position is subject to the availability of funding. The incumbent is not eligible for Service Professional non-renewal notice, or Classified Staff layoff or recall status.
• To be considered for this position, please provide the following in your application:
  • Curriculum vitae
  • Cover letter describing interest in the project and qualifications relevant to the position
  • Contact information for at least 3 professional references (can be included in cover letter)

About the Department/College

The School of Informatics, Computing, and Cyber Systems (SICCS) is known for its student-centered approach and strong emphasis on hands-on learning and research. We offer a variety of undergraduate and graduate degrees, offered by approximately 60 faculty in the school, with roughly 1,200 undergraduate and 500 graduate students. The department fosters close faculty-student interaction, with a focus on mentoring and collaborative research, partnering with local and national organizations to apply engineering solutions to real-world problems, especially those relevant to Arizona and the Southwest.

About the Position

Northern Arizona University in beautiful Flagstaff, Arizona is advertising for postdoctoral research position focused on quantifying the legacy effects of extreme climate events on carbon cycle processes, with a focus on drylands in the western US. The post-doc would have the opportunity to work with tree-ring data from various sampling networks and/or carbon and water flux data from eddy covariance tower networks. Projects may explore how trees and/or ecosystems are impacted by prolonged drought, flash droughts, pluvial events, or heatwaves, with the goal of understanding the legacy effects of such events. The postdoctoral scholar will be based in the School of Informatics, Computing, and Cyber Systems (SICCS), and will be supervised by Dr. Kiona Ogle, in collaboration with Drs. Jarrett Barber (NAU) and Drew Peltier (University of Neveda, Reno), and will collaborate with other team members on a project funded by the NSF Macrosystems Biology program, “Climate legacies and timescales of influence on carbon cycle processes in drylands.”

The objectives of this NSF-funded project are to: (1) Quantify the magnitude and duration of extreme climate events (e.g., droughts, heatwaves) on forest productivity and/or C fluxes in the western US. (2) Evaluate climatic memory and the timescales over which climate drivers impact ecosystem processes. (3) Determine how such legacy and memory responses vary across drylands in the western US. The postdoc will contribute to projects related to synthesizing climate and micrometeorological data to identify extreme climate and/or weather events in the western US and will analyze tree-ring data and/or ecosystem flux data (e.g., from the NEON and/or AmeriFlux networks) in the context of climate and/or weather extremes to the quantify the impacts and legacies of such events across a range of spatial and temporal scales. The postdoc will co-supervise PhD students and is expected to contribute to outreach and training activities. Applicants should possess strong analytical and computing skills; knowledge of Bayesian statistics, machine learning methods, and R is desired. Applicants should also possess strong writing abilities and oral communication skills and be able to work as an effective member of a collaborative group.

Responsibilities Include

15% - Data Management

• Assist with acquisition and preparation of publicly available datasets.
• Prepare datasets for subsequent statistical analysis.
• Create meta-data and document works flows involving data.
• Contribute to appropriate data sharing and data publication.
• Contribute to data documentation and preservation of that data.

35% - Research Analytics & Modeling

• Develop and apply statistical models (e.g., hierarchical Bayesian and/or machine learning) to climate, micrometeorological, tree-ring, flux tower, and/or satellite remote sensing data.
• Develop / use models to identify extreme climate / weather events and to evaluate how various ecosystem processes are impacted by such extreme events (i.e., quantify climate legacies and climate memory).

10% - Student Supervision & Mentorship

• Supervise project participants Supervise or co-supervise student researchers (undergraduate, MS, or PhD students) involved in project tasks.

20% - Publications & Research Dissemination

• Lead and contribute to manuscripts emerging from research projects.
• Publish manuscripts in high quality journals in the field.
• Disseminate project results via oral/poster presentations at professional conferences.

10% - Research Collaboration & Team Engagement

• Participate in and contribute to project meetings and lab group meetings.
• Share research ideas with the project team and lab group.
• Provide valuable feedback to other group members.

5% - Outreach

• Assist with developing and delivering short training modules for the project team, based on areas of expertise relative to project.
• Assist with outreach activities (e.g., co-organizing workshops or conference sessions, contributing to podcasts, engaging with stakeholders).

5% - Other

• Other duties as assigned.

Minimum Qualifications

• PhD or equivalent doctorate in relevant field such as ecology, environmental science, forestry, statistics, data science, informatics, or similar.

*A combination of related education, experience, and training may be used as an equivalent to the above Minimum Qualifications.

Preferred Qualifications

• Strong statistical modeling and coding experience.
• Bayesian statistical modeling experience.
• Experience working with ecological and climate data; experience with tree-ring and/or flux tower data.
• Strong background in of forest/plant/ecosystem ecology.
• Experience applying machine learning methods.
• Experience using high performance computing.
• Experience working with flux tower data and/or NEON data.
• Experience working with tree-ring data.
• Experience mentoring / supervising students, employees, or staff.
• Experience working with large datasets.

Knowledge, Skills, & Abilities

• Knowledgeable with coding languages, particularly R.
• Demonstrated ability to write and publish scientific manuscripts.
• Excellent data management skills.
• Good collaborative skills and team-working abilities.
• Good oral communicator and experience giving oral or poster presentations.
• Organized, responsive, and reliable.
• Ability to work both independently and as part of a team.

Compensation

Salary range is $59,000 to $70,000. Annual salary commensurate with candidate's qualifications and related experience.

Pre-Employment Check

Northern Arizona University requires satisfactory results for the following: a criminal background investigation, an employment history verification and a degree verification (in some cases) prior to employment. You may also be required to complete a fingerprint background check. Also, as an employer in the state of Arizona, NAU is required to participate in the federal E-Verify program that assists employers with verifying new employees' right to work in the United States.

This position has been identified as a safety/security sensitive position. Therefore, per AZ Revised Statute, Northern Arizona University requires satisfactory results for the following: a criminal background investigation, employment history investigation, degree verification (in some cases) and fingerprinting. If you are applying for a job that requires a CDL, you will be required to register with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration Drug & Alcohol Clearinghouse and adhere to the clearinghouse requirements.

Notice of Availability of the Annual Fire and Security Report

Each year Northern Arizona University releases an Annual Security Report. The report is a result of a federal law known as the Clery Act. The report includes Clery reportable crime statistics for the three most recent completed calendar years and discloses procedures, practices and programs NAU uses to keep students and employees safe including how to report crimes or other emergencies occurring on campus. In addition, the Fire Safety Report is combined with the Annual Security Report for the NAU Flagstaff Mountain Campus as this campus has on-campus student housing. This report discloses fire safety policies and procedures related to on-campus student housing and statistics for fires that occurred in those facilities. If you would like a free paper copy of the report, please contact the NAUPD Records Department at (928) 523-8884 or by visiting the department at 525 E. Pine Knoll Drive in Flagstaff.

Immigration Support/Sponsorship

Northern Arizona University welcomes applications from U.S. citizens, U.S. permanent residents, and individuals who already hold valid authorization to work in the United States or who may qualify for a change of status within the United States under current USCIS regulations. NAU is unable to initiate new employment-based visa sponsorships that require payment of the federal H-1B supplemental fee including for candidates residing outside the United States.

Submit your Application

To apply for this position, please click on the "Apply" button on this page. You must submit your application by midnight of the application deadline.

If you are an individual with a disability and need reasonable accommodation to participate in the hiring process, please contact the Disability Resources Office at 928-523-8773, DR@nau.edu, or PO Box 5633, Flagstaff AZ 86011.