| Company Information:
Overview The National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) is a $430
million dollar observatory project dedicated to understanding how
changes in climate, land use and invasive species impact ecology. For
the next three decades NEON will collect a comprehensive range of
ecological data on a continental scale across 20 eco-climatic domains
representing US ecosystems. NEON will use cutting edge technology
including an airborne observation platform that will capture images of
regional landscapes and vegetation; mobile, re-locatable, and fixed
data collection sites with automated ground sensors to monitor soil and
atmosphere; and trained field crews who will observe and sample
populations of diverse organisms and collect soil and water data. A
leading edge cyber-infrastructure will calibrate, store and publish
this information. The Observatory will grow to 300+ personnel and will
be the first of its kind designed to detect and enable forecasting of
ecological change at continental scales.
Position Title:
Sr. Staff Scientist - Ecological Statistics
Duties & Responsibilities: Summary:
NEON’s measurement systems collect a wide variety of data obtained from
instruments, gathered by observations of several organismal taxa, and
derived from samples from terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, as well
as data from airborne hyperspectral, LiDAR, and high-resolution optical
imaging. In addition, NEON is contributing to, and leveraging from,
community-built models of land surface dynamics, aquatic and
terrestrial biogeochemistry, hydrology, and vegetation canopy
structure. All of these efforts are geared toward providing
high-quality data products to NEON’s user communities, both as
value-added scientific contributions to understanding driver-response
feedbacks in ecosystems, but also as examples of how to utilize NEON
data and data products for leveraging NEON as a platform for such
studies. A major component of this effort is architecting statistically
defensible algorithms contributing to our understanding of these
processes, and reporting these approaches in conjunction with NEON data
products. Such approaches run the gamut of applications, from simple
methods to gauge data quality to highly advanced methods utilizing
networked models or model-data fusion. The Staff Scientist-Ecological
Statistics, will utilize their extensive expertise in statistical
methods and deep background in the environmental, ecological, or earth
sciences, to drive the development and implementation of
community-vetted, state-of-the-art statistical methods as applied to
the universe of NEON data products. This will involve working closely
with all NEON science teams, including the Cyberinfrastructure, Systems
Engineering, and Engineering teams, to develop, implement and document
these approaches. Further, the incumbent will work as a resource for
the NEON Science Division, utilizing interdisciplinary statistical
methodologies applied to NEON scientific goals, broadly applied across
its diverse measurement systems. This position reports to the Assistant
Director Data Products. Essential Duties and Responsibilities: •
Contribute to the definition and optimization of NEON’s approach to
continental scaling of ecological processes. • Help refine NEON’s
approach to addressing high-level science questions, such as those
enabling research into terrestrial-aquatic biogeochemical links,
gradient themes, and combined use of biogeochemical and microbial data,
utilizing cutting-edge spatial, temporal, and spatiotemporal
statistical techniques, such as hierarchical modeling, multi-model
inference, and data assimilation. • Develop production-grade,
state-of-the-art algorithms for combining heterogeneous data and data
products from NEON measurement and observation systems, spanning
multiple spatial and temporal scales. • Integrate deeply across NEON
science teams, effectively leveraging and incorporating planned and
existing scientific designs into algorithmic architecture. • Contribute
to the design, implementation, and operationalization of statistical
techniques used by other NEON science and engineering teams. •
Coordinate and collaborate with Cyberinfrastructure and Systems
Engineering teams. • Create and make presentations at professional
meetings, and reports. • Travel to national conferences (1-3 times per
year).
Position Qualifications:
Required Education, Experience, Knowledge, Skills: • Ph.D. in
Statistics, Ecology, Biology, Environmental or Earth Sciences,
Astronomy, or Physics. • Three or more years’ experience. • Extensive
knowledge of and experience with foundational statistics, both
frequentist and Bayesian. • Extensive knowledge of and experience of
two or more ecological sciences as relevant to NEON. • Peer-reviewed
journal publications and high standing in the statistics and ecology
communities. • Extensive knowledge of statistical inference and its
application to ecological sciences. • Extensive knowledge of spatial,
temporal, and spatiotemporal statistical techniques. • Experience with
coupling data at multiple spatial scales to a variety of process and
statistical models. • Experience with uncertainty quantification. •
Experience with hierarchical and/or Bayesian modeling. • Experience
with statistical approaches to filtering, such as particle filters or
the universe of Kalman filtering techniques. • Have excellent
communication and interpersonal skills. Preferred Education,
Experience, Knowledge, Skills: • Knowledge and experience with
visualization techniques.
Salary Range:
Benefits:
Web Site:
www.neoninc.org
Application Address:
hr.resources@neoninc.org
Contact Email: hr.resources@neoninc.org
Application Deadline:
03/31/2013
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