Research Associate, global warming experiments, North Carolina.

Research Associate (AKA Ecological Tinkerer) for work on large-scale global

warming experiments in North Carolina.

DESCRIPTION: We seek a person with strong technical and problem-solving

skills and experience in ecology to oversee day-to-day technical work on

climate chambers located at Duke Forest, near Durham, North Carolina. The

chambers are part of a many collaborator, two site (Duke Forest, Harvard

Forest), project to understand the effects of climate, and in particular

increasing temperatures, on ant communities and the species and ecological

processes that depend on them. The ideal candidate is someone who likes to

tinker with equipment and solve problems in the field, works well with

others and is well organized. This position will be 70% technician/manager

and 30% researcher. Scope exists for the technician to develop her or his

own research projects within the context of the chamber array.

Key duties and responsibilities include: (1) Maintain climate chambers (fix

broken equipment, monitor equipment, deal with problems). This work will

entail knowledge and comfort with electronics, plumbing, tinkering, and, in

particular, dataloggers. (2) Be in charge of day-to-day activities related

to the climate chambers and research therein. (3) Assist (or if the

candidate chooses, lead) ecological fieldwork. Fieldwork will include a

diversity of projects, from work with leaf-litter to the collection of

millipedes or even fallen bird feathers.

Salary Range: Starting at $30,000 (plus benefits), depending on experience.

This position has an initial appointment of one year, with the possibility

of additional two years of additional support available, contingent on

performance.

RESEARCH GROUP: The candidate would work in the lab of Rob Dunn at North

Carolina State University

(http://www.antmacroecology.org/robdunn/index.html). The lab is part of a

larger lab group (the Dunn, Gross and Haddad labs) researching diverse

topics from climate change to the impact of corridors on animal migration

and theoretical approaches to understanding the cascading consequences of

extinction. The candidate would also work with the other PIs on the project

(Nathan Sanders at the University of Tennessee, Aaron Ellison at Harvard

Forest and Nick Gotelli at the University of Vermont).

LOCATION: North Carolina State University, though possibilities exist for

living in Durham or Chapel Hill. The position is based in the Department of

Biology, a large interdisciplinary department with strong links to the

research in the Genetics, Entomology and Forestry departments and also to

researchers at neighboring Duke and UNC.

QUALIFICATIONS: Qualifications: MS in biology, ecology, engineering (or

related disciplines) + field experience. Hire should be able to communicate

well and interact with other biologists, but also students, the public, and

the climate chambers, which are also known to have a mind of their own.

Applicant should have demonstrated organizational abilities. The ideal

candidate would be fond of tinkering with equipment in ways that better

allow us to see the living world, whether that means building a new tool,

dealing with plumbing or figuring out some other way to otherwise see

processes and species invisible or barely visible to the naked eye. Skills

with Campbell Scientific dataloggers would also be particularly useful.

Contact: Rob_Dunn@ncsu.edu. Please send a CV along with your email