Post-doctoral Researcher, Modeling Crop Pollination Services
Gund Institute, The University of Vermont
Position: The Gund Institute for Ecological Economics seeks a
postdoctoral researcher to develop rigorous and practical models that
predict crop pollination services across agricultural landscapes. The
position is part of a new collaborative project funded by the USDA,
"Developing Sustainable Pollination Strategies for U.S. Specialty
Crops." We aim to understand how farm management practices affect
pollinators, and to develop recommendations for harnessing native
bees for crop pollination. The 3-year position will be directed by
Taylor Ricketts at The University of Vermont and co-advised by Eric
Lonsdorf, Research Scientist at the Chicago Botanic Garden.
Responsibilities: The postdoctoral researcher will: develop a
spatially-explicit statistical model integrating the ecology and
economics of crop pollination services (building on our initial
modeling efforts); work closely with project field teams to apply
this model to several agricultural landscapes and crops within the
US; use the fitted models to predict impacts of habitat enhancements
on pollinator communities and crop productivity. The post-doctoral
researcher will work closely with both Dr. Ricketts and Dr. Lonsdorf,
and will interact continuously with the broader project team
(<http://www.icpbees.org>www.icpbees.org).
Qualifications: Applicants must have a doctoral degree in ecology,
economics, agricultural science, or related fields. Successful
candidates will have strong quantitative and statistical modeling
skills, expertise in pollination or landscape ecology, successful
experience with interdisciplinary collaboration, and a commitment to
connecting research to real-world land management.
Application: Applicants should send a letter of interest, curriculum
vitae, and contact information for three references to Taylor
Ricketts, Director, Gund Institute for Ecological Economics, at
<mailto:[email protected]>[email protected]. Review of
applications will begin on November 15, 2012 and we anticipate a
start date of March 1, 2013.
Setting: The University of Vermont is located in Burlington, between
the Green and Adirondack Mountains and on the shores of Lake
Champlain. The Gund Institute is a transdisciplinary environmental
research center involving 20 Faculty Fellows, visiting scholars, and
graduate students (<http://www.uvm.edu/giee/>www.uvm.edu/giee/).
Related efforts at UVM include a university-wide research initiative
in Food Systems.
The University of Vermont is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action
Employer. Applications from women and people from diverse racial,
ethnic, and cultural backgrounds are encouraged
