ANNOUNCEMENT OF PROFESSIONAL VACANCY The Research Foundation of the State University of New York At the College of Environmental Science and Forestry 1 Forestry Drive, Syracuse, New York 13210-2778
18 November 2013 Title: Senior Research Scientist Department: Environmental and Forest Biology Salary Range: Mid 50s Duration: 2 years, possible extension Location: Albany, NY (New York State DEC Headquarters) Brief Description of Duties: This position will work closely with the New York State DEC Bureau of Wildlife staff to plan, design, and conduct statewide and regional harvest surveys, population monitoring, and research activities that are integral to a variety of New Yorks wildlife management programs. The position involves the creation, manipulation, analysis and maintenance of complex data sets derived from a variety of user surveys and field studies throughout New York State. Computer programs for data processing need to be maintained and written in Access, and several Visual FoxPro programs need to be maintained until they are replaced by Access programs. Analyses primarily relate to estimation of population indices and harvests from annual survey data, and development and application of population models. The Senior Research Scientist also serves as a consultant to Bureau of Wildlife staff throughout the state and research collaborators, providing direct support with statistical analyses, guidance on sampling designs, evaluation of project proposals to ensure statistical validity, assistance with preparation and review of technical reports and manuscripts, and response to data requests from staff and the public. The position will primarily serve the needs of the Game Management Section, but will be expected to provide as much support as possible for the Wildlife Diversity Section. The position will provide recommendations to various wildlife program specialists and management teams through collaboration in all project phases from conception to completion. Primary responsibilities include, but are not limited to: * Conduct and evaluate various hunter surveys used to estimate annual harvests and hunter effort for deer, bear, wild turkey, furbearers and other small game species, by wildlife management unit (WMU) and age/sex classes if applicable, and as needed for public information and management purposes. * Conduct and evaluate a variety of wildlife observation surveys (e.g., bowhunter sighting log, big game hunter survey, grouse and turkey hunter logs) to monitor relative abundance, by WMU, for deer, bear, moose, turkey, selected furbearers, and other game and non-game wildlife species. * Provide technical guidance on data management systems, maintain and update computer programs used to analyze survey data, and help identify and correct sources of errors that occur in telephone, internet and scannable form reporting systems. * Provide statistical expertise and consultation for design and analysis of other wildlife population or user surveys or monitoring programs, and evaluate those surveys and programs after implementation. * Provide user-friendly reports and data queries from the above surveys as needed for public information or management purposes. * Perform or assist Bureau of Wildlife staff or cooperators with statistical analysis or programming (e.g., R, SAS, Access, Program MARK, DISTANCE,SURVIV, etc.) necessary to produce results from harvest surveys, population monitoring programs, mark-recapture studies and other research activities; analyses may include information-theoretic and Bayesian inference, as well as estimating population parameters, population modeling and reconstruction. * Assist Bureau of Wildlife biologists in the preparation of manuscripts and technical reports. This may include primary authorship, co-authorship, review, revision and the construction of appropriate tables, charts and graphs. * Train and supervise support staff to assist with data quality assurance and validation procedures. * Provide training for Bureau of Wildlife staff and cooperators on specific quantitative methods or statistical software needed to more effectively carry out their work. * Travel around New York State as needed to meet with and make presentations to regional staff, other professionals, and wildlife management stakeholders. Minimum qualifications: * A PhD, or MS plus substantial work experience, in one of the following disciplines: wildlife population ecology, biostatistics, biometrics, or related field. * Professional experience applying statistical methods to problems in applied wildlife population ecology/natural resource management. * Expertise using R, SAS or other comparable statistical programming software for wildlife management applications, as well as Microsoft Access and Excel for database management. Experience writing or willingness to learn code for Visual FoxPro. * Experience with one or more of the following wildlife management applications: design or evaluation of population or harvest surveys; reconstruction modeling or integrated modeling of wildlife populations; occupancy modeling; population viability analysis; spatially explicit capture-recapture studies for population estimation or survival, movement or home range studies; distance sampling; other spatial analysis of wildlife distribution patterns using ArcGIS. * Strong written communication skills, including preparation of agency technical reports or publication as a lead author of at least one original research article in a peer-reviewed journal. * Ability to establish and maintain satisfactory working relationships and collaborate with diverse personalities on project teams. Preferred Qualifications: * Experience working closely with state or federal wildlife agency staff. Date to Be Filled: As soon as qualified candidate is found Application Deadline: Although the college will accept applications until the position is filled, interested candidates should submit their materials by December 20, 2013 to ensure optimal consideration. Application Procedure: Employment application must be submitted on-line at http://www.esf.edu/hr/, follow the Current ESF Vacancies link. Be sure to include contact information for a minimum of 3 references in your resume/CV. In accordance with the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act institutions of higher education are required to prepare an annual report containing information on campus security policies and campus statistics. This report includes statistics for the previous three years concerning reported crimes that occurred on-campus; in certain off-campus buildings or property owned or controlled by SUNY-ESF; and on property within, or immediately adjacent to and accessible from the campus. The report also includes institutional policies concerning campus security, such as policies concerning sexual assault, and other matters. You can obtain a printed copy of this report by contacting SUNY-ESF University Police at 315-470-6667 or by accessing the following web site: http://www.esf.edu/univpolice/crimereports/. The Research Foundation of the State University of New York is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer
