Internship - Environmental Postdoctoral Researcher
The Environmental Laboratory (EL) is one of the seven laboratories of U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (USACE-ERDC), which is the Army Corps of Engineers' integrated research and development (R&D) organization. EL provides solutions to environmental challenges for the U.S. Army, the Department of Defense and the Nation through environmental science and engineering research and development. Researchers in EL conduct research in ecosystem science and technology, environmental resiliency, environmental sensing, ecological modeling and forecasting, risk and decision science, environmentally sustainable material, systems biology, climate change, computational chemistry, environmental chemistry and environmental security. For more information about the US Army Engineering Research and Development Center (ERDC) Environmental Laboratory (EL), please visit https://www.erdc.usace.army.mil/.
The participant will have the opportunity to develop new environmental DNA (eDNA) tools for aquatic and riperian taxa and conduct surveys (field and lab components) for these kinds of taxa. The participant will further the development of lab skills such as PCR, qPCR, Sanger DNA sequencing, and next-generation sequencing, as well as bioinformatic data processing and analysis. The participant will receive mentoring from federal research scientists and technicians, will be contributing by meeting team research obligations, and, ideally, contribute to scientific publications and/or technical reports.
Appointment Length
This ORISE appointment period is 12 months in length. Appointments may be extended depending on funding availability, project assignment, program rules, and availability of the participant.
Desired start date: October 1, 2019
Participant Benefits
Participants will receive a stipend to be determined by ERDC-EL. Stipends are typically based on the participant’s academic standing, discipline, experience, and research facility location. Other benefits may include the following:
- Health Insurance Supplement. Participants are eligible to purchase health insurance through ORISE.
- Relocation Allowance
- Training and Travel Allowance
Nature of Appointment
The participant will not enter into an employee/employer relationship with ORISE, ORAU, DOD, or any other office or agency. Instead, the participant will be affiliated with ORISE for the administration of the appointment through the ORISE appointment letter and Terms of Appointment.
While participants will not enter into an employment relationship with DOD or any other agency, this opportunity may require a suitability investigation/background investigation. Any offer made is considered tentative pending favorable outcome of the investigation.
Qualifications
PhD in Molecular Biology, Conservation Biology, Plant and Wildlife Sciences, Ecology, or related fields.
Knowledge in the following areas:
- Field collections of plant and animal tissues and/or eDNA water samples.
- DNA extraction, PCR amplification, DNA sequencing, and next-generation sequencing.
- Experience in command line, R and/or Python programming will be ideal.