Opportunity

A research opportunity is currently available with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Agricultural Research Service (ARS), within the Midwest Climate Hub at the National Laboratory for the Agriculture and the Environment located in Ames, Iowa. The selected candidate can participate on location in Ames, Iowa, or remotely.

The Agricultural Research Service (ARS) is the U.S. Department of Agriculture's chief scientific in-house research agency with a mission to find solutions to agricultural problems that affect Americans every day from field to table. ARS will deliver cutting-edge, scientific tools and innovative solutions for American farmers, producers, industry, and communities to support the nourishment and well-being of all people; sustain our nation’s agroecosystems and natural resources; and ensure the economic competitiveness and excellence of our agriculture. The vision of the agency is to provide global leadership in agricultural discoveries through scientific excellence.

The role of the Midwest Climate Hub is to help develop and deliver information and practices to help agriculture adapt to a varying and changing climate and to help encourage Climate Smart practices that mitigate GHGs and climate change. The hub works with a wide variety of federal, state and land grant partners to share information about climate and agricultural issues over a wide range of time scales.

The Northern Forests Climate Hub is a key partner to the Midwest regional Climate Hub, housed in the Forest Science Laboratory for the US Forest Service in Houghton, MI. The role of the Northern Forests Climate Hub was designed to provide additional forestry-specific expertise to the Midwest and Northeast Climate Hubs, leveraging the Forest Service’s partnership with the Northern Institute of Applied Climate Science (NIACS, www.niacs.org) and its resources to meet the complex needs of land managers and woodland owners in the region.

Research Project: The candidate will become a participant of a rapidly growing network of Climate Hub internal and external partners. The candidate will learn from collaborating directly with regional partners to help discover more information about climate change issues rapidly impacting land management practices across a variety of systems in the Midwest. Project activities will include co-leading an assessment and evaluation of scientific literature and related resources provided to the region. This update will support climate services at the Midwest and Northern Forests Climate Hub and will transfer directly into Hub technical support, communications, and outreach efforts. Activities will include a formal review of regional scientific literature and synthesis products (such as the National Climate Assessment) to distill synthetic climate change trends and impacts at scales and on topics relevant to regional stakeholders. 

Qualifications:

• The qualified candidate should have received a master's degree in one of the relevant fields, or be currently pursuing the degree with completion before December 24, 2023. Degree must have been received within five years of the appointment start date.

Learning Objectives: The above project activities will help inform future climate research and technical outreach efforts in the Midwest region, while providing the candidate with opportunities to learn more about Midwest systems, conduct data analysis, review research, and co-create publications and outreach materials for a variety of audiences. Information created will be incorporated into regional Climate Hub materials, used in technical outreach efforts, and widely shared with partners in the region. The candidate will partner with the USDA Climate Hubs and many climate service partners in the region.

Mentor: The mentor for this opportunity is Dennis Todey (dennis.todey@usga.gov). If you have questions about the nature of the research project, please contact the mentor.

Apply online. A complete application consists of:

• An application
• Transcript(s) – For this opportunity, an unofficial transcript or copy of the student academic records printed by the applicant or by academic advisors from internal institution systems may be submitted. Click here for detailed information about acceptable transcripts.
• A current resume/CV, including academic history, employment history, relevant experiences, and publication list
• Two educational or professional recommendations

All documents must be in English or include an official English translation.