The Williams lab is seeking a full-time lead field technician for this summer. The project is monitoring almond crops for pests and natural enemies at varying distance from forb plantings and control field edges. The research questions are, do forb plantings designed to support crop pollinators, also support crop pests? Are these potential negative effects offset by increases in natural enemies (predators and parasites of crop pests)?
Our ideal candidate would have (1) A strong interest in agricultural ecosystems, IPM, restoration design and/or insect community ecology (2) Proven commitment to collecting high-quality data in face of logistical headaches and physical discomfort (3) Demonstrated ability and interest in managing a field project. Responsibilities may include communicating with growers to coordinate sampling schedules with spray schedules, deciding what data processing and entry tasks to do on off-field days, and managing one or two junior technicians. (4) We ID to fairly coarse taxonomic levels, so specific entomological skills are not necessary, but attention to detail and understanding how to hike up a new ID learning curve is important. (5) Experience with data management and analysis in R. The field work runs April through September. Start and end dates are flexible, and there is possibility for extension to do lab work and analysis until April 2019. Hourly pay rate is $15.45. To apply, please send an email to [email protected] using "CDFA applicant" as the subject, indicate your preferred start and end dates, and attach a CV and a 1-page cover letter. -- Tina Harrison, Ph.D. Department of Entomology University of California - Davis williamslab.ucdavis.edu/lab-members/
