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Post Doctoral Researcher

Job Details


About Occidental College

Founded in 1887, Occidental is a nationally recognized, private college of the liberal arts and sciences, dedicated to providing a gifted and diverse group of students with a total educational experience of the highest quality -- one that prepares them for leadership in an increasingly complex, interdependent and pluralistic world.

What makes Occidental special? An intellectually rigorous academic environment. Small classroom settings where students collaborate with professors and their peers while pursuing or discovering their passion. A beautiful residential campus that offers students hands-on engagement with the cultural and intellectual resources of Los Angeles. A community open to stimulating conversation and divergent points of view. Some 2,100 students from 46 states and 28 countries choose from 41 majors and minors and participate in one the country’s top undergraduate research programs. Oxy students routinely win top awards and fellowships; its first Rhodes Scholar was named in 1907. Dedicated to excellence and equity, Occidental also is one of the country’s most economically diverse campuses, according to the New York Times. Some 71 percent of Oxy students receive some form of financial aid; 20 percent are Pell Grant recipients; and 19 percent are the first in their family to attend college

Title: Post Doctoral Researcher

Department: Sciences

Duration: Indefinite

Job Summary

The Vantuna Research Group (www.oxy.edu/vantuna-research-group) at Occidental College is seeking a Postdoctoral Researcher to assist with its extensive grant-funded field research program. The researcher will be mentored by Dr. Dan Pondella (Occidental College) and Dr. Jeremy Claisse (Cal Poly Pomona) with primary responsibilities associated with a grant from the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) investigating the environmental status of offshore artificial structures in California. The goals of this project are to collect, integrate and analyze relevant ecological (e.g., biomass, productivity, biodiversity), habitat complexity, and environmental metrics to develop an improved understanding of local- to regional-scale influence of marine infrastructure and artificial reef habitats in southern California. Research results will support decision-making around decommissioning of oil and gas infrastructure, offshore renewable energy development, and reef restoration projects. The researcher must be self-motivated and also eager to participate in team-oriented research on multiple ongoing projects including rocky reef and kelp forest habitat restoration, MPA impacts, and long-term (45+ year) rocky reef monitoring time-series analysis. There will be multiple opportunities to publish research from the primary BOEM-funded project, as well as these existing long-term datasets.

This is a full-time appointment that includes a competitive benefits package including excellent health, dental, life, disability, and retirement benefits; tuition benefits for the employee, spouse, domestic partner, and dependents; additional extras including use of gym facilities, use and borrowing privileges at the College Library, cell phone allowance, and free parking on campus. Employees also receive a minimum of 14 paid holidays and are eligible to accrue 15 days of vacation and 12 days of sick leave per year. The initial appointment will be made for two years, with possibility of extension based on the availability of external grant funding. The annual starting salary for this position is $70,000, with flexibility to increase based on experience. The start date for this position is negotiable but ideally would start prior to June 30, 2023.

Job Duties

Day-to-day duties include substantive involvement in data analysis, database development and management, and field work (often multiple days per week), including scientific diving, ROV surveys, and/or geophysical (i.e., bathymetric and side scan sonar) surveys. Workdays not in the field are spent on campus in the office and laboratory. The researcher will be expected to write manuscripts as lead author and assist in the preparation of grant proposals and reporting documents. Opportunities to develop and conduct their own research within the broader context of this position and to mentor junior VRG staff scientists, Occidental College undergraduate students, and Cal Poly Pomona Master’s students are available.

Minimum Qualifications

• PhD degree in a relevant scientific field (degree must be conferred by position start date)
• Experience with data management, report writing, and manuscript preparation as first-author
• Programming proficiency in R
• Experience applying remote sensing data or GIS methods to ecological problems
• Strong communication skills to build relationships with outside groups including research partners, funding agencies, and government entities, and to work effectively as part of a collaborative and growing team
• Able to work safely in adverse weather conditions and demanding environmental conditions and have strong swimming abilities for water-based fieldwork
• Able to travel to off-campus sites, and to work evenings, weekends, or on multi-day trips when necessary

Preferred Qualifications


• An experienced AAUS certified (or international equivalent) SCUBA diver
• Experience with collecting data using remote sensing methods (e.g., ROVs, AUVs, sonars)
• Expertise in spatial ecological modeling, predictive species-habitat modeling, generalized linear models and/or generalized additive models
• Experience using remote sensing data, bathymetric data, and/or aerial photographs to model habitat and environmental characteristics
• Experience with community ecology data analysis (e.g., ordination, numerical classification)
• Interest in implementing open data science tools and practices (e.g., GitHub, RMarkdown)
• Experience interacting with marine resource management agencies
• Experience operating and troubleshooting oceanographic and/or hydrographic marine electronics
• Experience with ArcGIS

Application Instructions

Applications must include the following:

  1. Curriculum Vitae
  2. Cover letter describing experience, research interests, and career goals
  3. One relevant publication or working paper
  4. Names and contact information of at least two references who will be willing to submit letters of recommendation upon request


Incomplete applications will not be considered. Review of complete applications will begin March 1, 2023 and will continue until the position is filled. Any inquiries regarding the position should be sent to vrg@oxy.edu .

EXPECTED HIRING RANGE: $70,000.00

If you are offered this position at Occidental College, your final base salary compensation will be determined based on factors such as skills, education, experience, and/or geographic location. In addition to those factors, Occidental complies with applicable pay equity laws and considers internal equity among current employees when developing the final offer. Please keep in mind that the range mentioned above is the base salary range for the role. Hiring at the maximum of the range would not be typical in order to allow for future and continued salary growth. We also offer a generous compensation and benefits package.

Advertised: 01 Feb 2023 Pacific Standard Time
Applications close:

Company

Oxy College

Occidental isn’t just any liberal arts college. It fully integrates the liberal arts and sciences with the cultural and intellectual resources of a global city.

Situated on a 120-acre residential campus in the heart of Los Angeles, our location serves as a springboard for putting theory into practice and ideas into action. At Oxy, students spend as much time in the lab, the field, the community and the studio as they do in the classroom.

Oxy is a place for talented, hard-working, curious students to explore their current passions—and discover new ones. They benefit from our small-classroom environment and demanding yet supportive faculty, who are as dedicated to teaching and mentorship as their research. Our distinctive interdisciplinary and global approach gives students the chance to explore new ideas and perspectives, and connect with the world.

With more than 40 majors and minors, one-of-a-kind programs like the Kahane United Nations ProgramCampaign Semester and Rebellious Lawyering, and our emphasis on research through the Undergraduate Research Center and senior comprehensives, Occidental lays the groundwork for a compelling intellectual adventure. And the academic rigor on campus is enhanced by internships and partnerships across L.A., Southern California and beyond.

Our graduates are strategic thinkers and effective communicators. Inclusive and consciously collaborative, our students seek to embrace difference and make a difference in the world. Occidental is reinventing the liberal arts and sciences for a new generation of problem solvers, creators and thinkers. It’s an education that is distinctly Oxy.

Oxy II

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