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Postdoctoral Research Associate-Soil Science/Agroecology/Agronomy/Hydrology

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Position overview

Salary range: The posted UC salary scales set the minimum pay determined by rank and/or step at appointment. See Table 23: Postdoctoral Scholar-Employee, Postdoctoral Scholar-Fellow, Postdoctoral Scholar-Paid Direct, Fiscal Year. The salary range for this position is $60,000-$71,952. “Off-scale salaries”, i.e., a salary that is higher than the published system-wide salary at the designated rank and step, are offered when necessary to meet competitive conditions, qualifications, and experience.

Position description

Postdoctoral Scholar Opportunity at University of California, Davis
Dept of LAWR, Soil Biochemistry Lab
PI: William Horwath

The Soil Biogeochemistry Lab (http://horwathlab.lawr.ucdavis.edu) at the University of California-Davis is seeking a post-doctoral research associate with training in soil science, agronomy, agroecology or hydrology or related discipline to investigate potential environmental factors that could affect trace gas emissions during the storage and field (land) application of effluent from two dairy manure management sources, open lagoons (project baseline) and anaerobic digesters. Senate Bill (SB) 1383 (Lara, Chapter 395, Statutes of (2016) requires a 40 percent reduction in methane emissions from California’s dairy and livestock sector compared to 2013 levels by 2030. About half of the methane emissions from this sector originate from manure management practices. Anaerobic digestion is an effective mitigation technology for methane emissions dairy waste and other livestock operations, but limited information is available on the potential downstream land applied air emissions that could result from anaerobic digestion at California dairies. This position provides a unique opportunity to combine scientific research with the needs of the dairy industry and government agency. This is one of parallel projects involving experts from Princeton University, University of Wisconsin-Madison, California Air Resources Board, and industry collaborators.

The postdoctoral research associate will be responsible for 1) work with technical advisory committee to identify candidate dairies, conduct activity data survey, and develop a testing schedule of air quality monitoring, liquid and soil samples, and NOx flux testing; 2) analyze liquid samples collected at the inlets and outlets of the open lagoons, digesters, and effluent storage ponds, and develop a liquid sample data report; and 3) analyze soil samples and conduct NOx flux measurements collected before and after the digester and lagoon effluent are field applied, and develop a soil sample and NOx flux data report. The incumbent will also be expected to prepare research publications. The goal of the study is to help the State determine if applying anaerobic digestion practices on California dairies can result in an unintended increase of downstream air pollutant emissions, identify driving environmental factors for those emissions, and develop mitigation strategies if necessary. Experience in ecological isotope applications, biogeochemical models, and/or NOx instrumentation is highly desirable.

The candidate will develop hypotheses based on current literature, design and conduct experiments, perform work in the laboratory and field, analyze data, and prepare manuscripts for publication in peer-reviewed journals. It is expected that the postdoctoral associate will lead a minimum of two high-impact peer reviewed scientific articles with the supervision of Dr. William Horwath and collaborators. In addition, the postdoc will be expected to supervise undergraduate student assistants, develop analytical methodologies and interact with other lab members. The postdoctoral associate will work independently with minimal supervision. This is a full time, 12-month appointment with one additional year available depending on performance and funding availability.

Main Responsibilities:
• Experimental design
• Communication with collaborators including dairy farmers
• Field sample collection, processing and analyzing
• Data analysis and interpretation
• Review of relevant literature
• Preparation of manuscripts for publication in peer-reviewed journals
• Participate extension activities
• Mentoring of undergraduate students

Qualifications

Basic qualifications (required at time of application)

PhD in soil science, agronomy, plant science, agroecology, hydrology or related field

Additional qualifications (required at time of start)

Expertise in soil nitrogen and/or carbon cycles,
Evidence of effective data analysis, scientific writing and publication in English

Preferred qualifications (other preferred, but not required, qualifications for the position)

• Experience with dairy farm operation, manure management and digestate land application
• Experience with soil water movement
• Experience with isotope ecological applications
• Experience with process-based models (e.g. DayCent and DNDC)
• Experience with NOx Instrument.

Application Requirements

Document requirements
  • Cover Letter - explaining why you are interested in this position and what makes you a good candidate for it.

  • Curriculum Vitae - Your most recently updated C.V.

Reference requirements
  • 3 required (contact information only)
Apply link: https://recruit.ucdavis.edu/JPF05468

Help contact: jcagonzalez@ucdavis.edu

About UC Davis

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Job location

Davis, CA