For more information, please follow this link: https://university-montana-hr.silkroad.com/epostings/index.cfm?fuseaction=app.jobinfo&jobid=3347&company_id=16254&version=1&source=ONLINE&JobOwner=992276&startflag=1

Salary– Salary for this position is $35,568 – $36,000 per year commensurate with qualifications.

The Flathead Lake Biological Station (FLBS) invites applications for a Research Associate to work under the supervision of FLBS Senior Scientist Erin Sexton, conducting research related to transboundary watersheds (US/Canada) with the goal of resource management based on sound science. The appointment is full-time and will include field data collection, data compilation and management, and communication and coordination with partners (i.e., US and Canadian federal, state, provincial, and tribal managers).

The Research Associate will be expected to work independently and collaboratively. The position demands the ability to see intellectually and technically complex projects through to their conclusion and meet project deadlines. The field work required for this position will often be conducted in remote locations both in the US and Canada. Such work requires independent decision-making that is central to the success of the overall project. The appointee is expected to take a leadership role providing scientific and technical capacity to existing work taking place across a suite of rivers and landscapes that cross the Western U.S. and British Columbia boundaries (transboundary rivers).

The position requires someone highly organized, who can compile, collect, manage, analyze, and summarize environmental data; coordinate logistics and collect field data; communicate extensively with a variety of partners and stakeholders; and assist with scientific meetings and workshops. The Research Associate will interact closely with a team researchers and agency personnel from FLBS/UM and a variety of collaborating institutions.

The University of Montana is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity employer and has a strong institutional commitment to the principle of diversity in all areas. In that spirit, we are particularly interested in receiving applications from a broad spectrum of qualified people who would assist the University in demonstrating its five priorities for action: Place student success at the center of all we do; drive excellence and innovation in teaching, learning, and research; embody the principle of “mission first, people always”; partner with place; and proudly tell the UM story.

Position Details

  • Position is full-time, 1.0 FTE, Letter of Appointment and includes a comprehensive and competitive benefits package including Insurance package, mandatory retirement plan, partial tuition waiver, and wellness program.

Required Qualifications

  • Undergraduate degree in environmental science, natural resource management, or similar fields;
  • Demonstrated experience of research capabilities required to carry out innovative and thoughtful research;
  • Demonstrated ability to identify, analyze and summarize relevant literature;
  • Demonstrated ability to communicate complex ideas and concepts (both orally and in writing) to scientific and non-scientific audiences;
  • Demonstrated ability to work with diverse collaboratives and coalitions on established natural resource priorities;
  • Demonstrated ability to be task-oriented, self-motivated, to take initiative, and to see a project through from inception to completion
  • Interest in natural resource management and collaboration in large landscapes;
  • Experience living and working in remote settings and making appropriate field/backcountry decisions ‘on the fly’;
  • Extensive working knowledge of common computer applications necessary for analyzing and visualizing scientific data, such as; Word, Excel, Powerpoint
  • Ability to perform physical labor (e.g., lift up to 60 lbs);
  • Willingness and ability to travel extensively in the transboundary watersheds across the US and Canada.
  • Valid passport and driver’s license

Preferred Qualifications

  • Ability to identify funding opportunities and prepare funding proposals, with FLBS researchers and collaborative research partners.
  • Working knowledge of databases, R and ArcGIS
  • Experience and familiarity with governmental environmental policies, specifically impact assessment processes and documents
  • Ability to function independently in a reliable manner that best represents the Flathead Lake Biological Station, including the ability to make sound decisions, independent of supervision and carry out a logical, defendable course of action to successfully achieve specific objectives.

About the Flathead Lake Biological Station and UM

Located on the eastern shore of one of North America’s largest lakes, FLBS is a modern ecological research and education facility adjacent to Glacier National Park in the heart of the Crown of Continent ecoregion. Established in 1899, the mission of the station is to conduct basic and applied ecological research; provide field ecology courses for advanced undergraduate and graduate students; and provide scientific data, interpretation, and outreach to help resolve environmental problems and inform public policy locally, regionally, nationally, and internationally FLBS strives to advance understanding of complex linkages among atmospheric, terrestrial, aquatic, and human components of aquatic ecosystems. This requires a “genes to ecosystems” approach and, therefore, the faculty at FLBS is strongly interdisciplinary. Research foci at FLBS include limnology of Flathead and other large river-lake systems; water quality and supply in changing landscapes; ecological stoichiometry; systems ecology and modeling of large river ecosystems; microbial ecology; nutrient limitation and biogeochemistry; biodiversity conservation; evolutionary biology of animal, plant, and microbial taxa; ecology of invasive species; remote sensing of climate-mediated landscape change; and integration of social and ecological processes in a systems framework. Major FLBS facilities are recently remodeled and fully equipped for on-site research and education.

The University of Montana is flagship, research institution with more than 9,000 undergraduate and graduate students. It is located in Missoula, a culturally vibrant community of about 75,000, surrounded by mountains and three rivers converge. Abundant recreational opportunities in surrounding state and national forests and nearby Glacier National Park and Yellowstone National Park complement a thriving intellectual atmosphere.