Opportunity

Salary: $58,500 annual

Dr. Laura Dee and Dr. Katherine Siegel (CU Boulder’s Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology) seek a Postdoctoral Research Associate focusing on climate-adapted wildfire management. This project seeks to operationalize the Resist-Accept-Direct framework to manage wildfire-facilitated ecological transformations in the Greater Yellowstone Area, where climate change and wildfires are interacting to cause shifts from conifer forests to shrublands and grasslands. These transitions impact conservation objectives and ecosystem services across a large landscape with many different management agencies with diverse goals.

This project, funded by the USGS’s North Central Climate Adaptation Science Center, involves close collaboration with management agencies in the Greater Yellowstone Area, including resource, land, and wildfire managers in the National Park Service and US Forest Service. The overarching goal of the project is to help managers identify desired future ecological conditions and coordinate approaches to achieve their conservation objectives in the context of climate change and ecological transformations.

The successful candidate will have experience working with land and resource managers in a co-production framework, with specific experience with qualitative environmental research methods including semi-structured interviews and workshop facilitation. The candidate will be based in Boulder, CO in the Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology and co-advised by Dee (CU Boulder) and Siegel (CU Boulder and University of Toronto), with opportunities to interact with the researchers from the North Central Climate Adaptation Science Center.

The anticipated start date for this position is between August 15, 2023-September 30, 2023. Funding for this position is for 18 months.

Responsibilities:

• Science synthesis, expert elicitation, and research co-production with land, resource, and fire managers in the Greater Yellowstone Area as part of a project funded by the North Central Climate Adaptation Science Center.
• Conduct semi-structured interviews with land, resource, and fire managers in the Greater Yellowstone Area.
• Liaise with management partners in the Greater Yellowstone Coordinating Committee.
• Design and facilitate a virtual workshop bringing together land, resource, and fire managers in the Greater Yellowstone Area to discuss implementation of the Resist-Accept-Direct framework at the landscape scale to manage wildfire-facilitated ecological transitions.
• Present results at internal meetings and stakeholder workshops.
• Lead and/or co-author academic journal articles.

Qualifications:

• A PhD in Environmental Sciences, Environmental Studies, Ecology, Geography, or a related field.
• Experience with interview methods and qualitative coding in environmental fields will be prioritized, as will experience working with diverse groups of management practitioners.
• Workshop facilitation experience would be helpful.
• A strong track record of creative, rigorous, and collaborative research.

To apply, please submit the following materials:

1. Resume/CV.
2. Cover letter.
3. A writing sample (a published manuscript or a manuscript in preparation for publication).

If you are selected as the finalist, your degree will be verified by the CU Boulder Campus Human Resources Department using an approved online vendor. However, if your degree was obtained outside of the United States, please submit a translated version.

During the application process, you will need to enter contact information for two references. We will request letters of recommendation and additional materials, if needed, as the search progresses.

Review of applications will begin immediately. This position will remain open until July 20th, 2023.

Note: Application materials will not be accepted via email. For consideration, applications must be submitted through CU Boulder Jobs.