Soil Scientist

• United States

The National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON, Inc.) is a nonprofit science corporation dedicated to understanding how changes in climate, land use and invasive species impact ecology. Currently under design is the NEON project - an observatory comprising more than 60 environmental and biological monitoring locations distributed throughout twenty domains across the United States, Hawaii, Alaska & Puerto Rico.  These observations and experiments will be monitored and controlled in real-time from our headquarters in Boulder, Colorado.

The Fundamental Instrument Unit (FIU) consists of an automated suite of meteorological, atmospheric, soil and ecophysiological measurements.  The Soil Scientist will support Science project development and management activities.

·   Design FIU system components that measure soil processes

·   Coordinate, design and execute analyses for prototype and site characterization activities,

·   Coordinate soil-related measurements and data products with other related NEON system design groups, e.g., Engineering, CyberInfrastructure, Fundamental Sentinel Unit, and Land Use Analyses Package,

·   Develop algorithm for computing soil-related data products,

·   Develop soil-related data quality assurance and quality control procedures, and

·   Develop plans for evaluating and transferring soil measurements systems to an operational basis

·   1-3 years experience in soil-related work,

·   Experience with a wide range of related soil sensors, and measurement techniques and their associated data acquisition and analysis procedures,

·   Experience with quantitative analysis of soils or related data,

·   Experience delivering a final product from concept through testing to deployment,

·   Experience working in a collaborative scientific or engineering enterprise, and

·   Demonstrated ability to communicate effectively in written and oral forms

·   Doctoral degree (or MS plus equivalent experience) in one of the environmental science fields (soil science, biometeorology, ecosystem science, micrometeorology etc) or a related Science field.

·   Recent PhD graduates may apply.

·   Working at the ecosystem-level scale

·   Some work experience with soil microbiology.

·   Ability to develop the measurement designs for different and contrasting soil types.

·   Critical thinking, scientific writing and review,

·   Ability to travel monthly to domain sites during 2010, plus travel to conferences

·   Quantification of spatial and temporal variation of soil physical properties and processes (e.g., soil climate, biogeochemistry, respiration, etc.), 

·   Understanding of soils processes and ecosystem modeling,

·   Demonstrated problem-solving and communication skills, and

·   Desired knowledge base of both instrument hardware and software development.

• The candidate may be exposed to conditions in the field, and therefore must be able to traverse uneven ground such as mountains, stream beds, and shallow ponds carrying equipment and materials up to 40 lbs.