Overview

  • Accepting applications

Duties

Summary

This position is located in the United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service with one vacancy in Corvallis, Oregon.

The incumbent will serve as a Research Agronomist in the Forage Seed and Cereal Research Unit, in Corvallis, OR.

Responsibilities

  • Collaborate with regulatory personnel, plant pathologists, entomologists, agronomists, soil scientists, and microbiologists to implement approaches that reduce the impact of weeds and improve agroecosystem sustainability and productivity.
  • Develop integrated weed management practices that increase yield, reduce crop loss, are optimized with other production objectives and are compatible with farming techniques promoting natural resource conservation.
  • Determine how crop rotation impacts weed ecology and identify rotations that reduce losses from weeds in seed cropping systems.
  • Employ innovative use of remote sensing to broaden the scope of measured variables and research objectives, and the scale of the data collection.

Requirements

Conditions of Employment

  • You must be a US Citizen or US National
  • Males born after 12/31/1959 must be Selective Service registered or exempt
  • Subject to satisfactory adjudication of background investigation and/or fingerprint check
  • Direct Deposit ? Per Public Law 104-134 all Federal employees are required to have federal payments made by direct deposit to their financial institution.
  • Successfully pass the E-Verify employment verification check. To learn more about E-Verify, including your rights and responsibilities, visit E-Verify at https://www.e-verify.gov/.
  • Successful completion of a three year probationary period.

Qualifications

Applicants must meet all qualifications and eligibility requirements by the closing date of the announcement including specialized experience and/or education, as defined below.

Basic Requirements:

Degree: agronomy; or related discipline of science that included at least 30 semester hours of course work in the basic plant sciences, including at least 15 semester hours in agronomic subjects, such as those dealing with plant breeding, crop production, and soil and crop management.

OR

Combination of education and experience: at least 30 semester hours in the basic plant sciences, including a minimum of 15 semester hours in agronomic subjects, as shown in above, plus appropriate experience or additional education.

AND

In addition to meeting the basic requirements described above, applicants must also meet additional qualification requirements as stated below.

At the GS-12
Applicants must demonstrate at least one full year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the GS-11 grade level in the Federal service or possess a Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree or possess an equivalent combination of graduate level education and experience. Graduate education must be directly related to the work of the position and must have equipped applicants with the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to do the work.

Specialized experience is experience directly related to the position to be filled. The specialized experience requirements for the GS-12 level of this position are: experience conducting research in integrated weed management leading to publication in a peer reviewed journal.

At the GS-13
Applicants must demonstrate at least one full year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the GS-12 grade level in the Federal service. Specialized experience is experience directly related to the position to be filled. The specialized experience requirements for the GS-13 level of this position are: Experience leading, coordinating and conducting research related to integrated weed management practices that are optimized with other production objectives; and primary authorship of peer-reviewed journals related to weed science. Other production objectives include but are not limited to: disease and pest control, increasing crop yield, improving crop quality, practices that improve the natural resources base, practices that reduce environmental impacts.

Experience refers to paid and unpaid experience, including volunteer work done through National Service programs (e.g., Peace Corps, AmeriCorps) and other organizations (e.g., professional; philanthropic; religious; spiritual; community, student, social). Volunteer work helps build critical competencies and can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience.

To be considered for this position, you must submit a one-page abstract of your MS thesis and/or Ph.D. dissertation. Also, submit a list of names, addresses, and phone numbers of persons familiar with your stature, contributions, recognition; any honors or awards received; memberships in professional or honor societies; invitations to make presentations at scientific/technical meetings; scientific society office and committee assignments; presentations (other than invitation); and publications.

Applicants must be available to report for duty at the time a selection is made. Selections are typically made within 30 days of the closing date of the announcement.

Education

Please see above for education qualification requirement information.