This position is available immediately. Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden is a conservation, research and education based botanic garden opened to the public in 1938. Fairchild is an independent “not for profit” institution with broad community support in south Florida. The garden has over 100 staff including 8 PhDs. The garden maintains one of the world's most comprehensive tropical plant collections with an emphasis on palms, cycads and tropical fruit. The research focus of the Center for Tropical Plant Conservation (CTPC) at Fairchild is on the conservation biology of south Florida and Caribbean plants, evolutionary biogeography and the conservation management of tropical plants and habitats with a special emphasis on palms and cycads.
Fairchild works with partners in over 20 countries with active field programs in the Caribbean, MesoAmerica, Madagascar, South Africa, and East Africa. Working in tandem with the CTPC are highly professional education and tropical horticulture teams. As a public garden with a high profile in the Miami community Fairchild offers unique opportunities to advance the public understanding of tropical conservation and science in general. Fairchild has a strong and active partnership with Florida International University (FIU), Florida's State research university in Miami. FIU has over 38,000 students and offers more than 200 bachelors, masters and doctoral degrees in 21 colleges and schools. The Department of Biological Sciences of FIU has 39 faculty members, 900 undergraduate majors, and 100 graduate students. Tropical biology and conservation are major themes of the department. Position background. The CTPC has a major regional herbarium with rich collections from Florida and the Caribbean and specialist collections of palms and cycads. It is an active herbarium with strong partnerships in the USA, the Caribbean and internationally. The FTG Herbarium holds ca. 180,000 specimens with more than 84,000 on eFTG the first virtualherbarium in the world www.virtualherbarium.org. Position description and required qualifications. The successful candidate will report to the Head of the CTPC. The candidate will be working with a highly experienced herbarium manager and an “army” of extraordinary volunteers. As a Fairchild staff member he/she will be expected to oversee the management the herbarium, lead conservation research projects (for instance conservation planning in Jamaica) and to develop an externally funded research program that supports excellence in the nexus of systematics and conservation biology, teaching at FIU, and the mentoring of graduate students. We are looking for a candidate with experience in tropical biology and botany, an understanding of the management of a herbarium (including CITES administration) and a passion for the conservation of tropical plants and their habitats. Advancement will be based on papers published, grants and funding obtained and “measurable” conservation delivery. The position is a full time contract and the salary is competitive and commensurate with qualifications and experience. Minimum of an M.Sc or ideally a Ph.D. with postdoctoral experience is required that includes grant writing experience and a record of peer reviewed publication. Fluency in a second language (ideally Spanish) will be desirable as is a desire to travel and to make a difference in the world of conservation. To apply, submit by email or mail/courier a curriculum vitae, statements of research and conservation interests, and have three letters of reference sent to: Ms Jan Brown, Assistant to the Executive Director, Davis House, Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden, 10901 Old Cutler Road, Coral Gables, FL 33156- 4296. Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
