The Ecological Restoration Institute (ERI) is adding to our science delivery team of natural resource professionals committed to working with land management practitioners (e.g., US Forest Service, AZ State Forest and Fire Management, National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management) and other NGO partners to restore and increase resiliency of Arizona’s fire-adapted forests. As a member of the Science Delivery Team, this position will support the ERI’s mission (https://eri.nau.edu/about-us) through co-production of technical analyses with partners to inform large forest landscape restoration.
This role will interact with a wide variety of land managers and stakeholders to translate broad forest management goalsinto specific metrics for implementation and evaluation, and communicate landscape concepts via spatial (e.g., GIS, remote sensing) and tabular (e.g., spreadsheets, databases) data products. The ideal candidate is a creative problem-solver that has both practical and scientific experience in forest/fire ecology, a passion for collaborative work involving a diverse range of stakeholders and team members, and an interest in creating healthy, resilient forested landscapes.
Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:
- Knowledge of science delivery methodologies, technologies, and processes.
- Knowledge of western forest systems.
- Knowledge of public land management policies, practice, and culture.
- Knowledge of remote sensing, fire ecology, forest ecology, or climate change effects.
- Skilled in translating complex technical information to non-technical audiences regarding data and information management and technology.
- Skilled in professional writing and verbal communication techniques.
- Skilled in software platforms that facilitate different science outreach products, including some of, and not limited to, the following: Adobe suite, Microsoft suite, ArcGis and Google Earth Engine.
- Skilled in strong collaborative, organizational, and project management.
- Ability to establish and nurture beneficial professional relationships with diverse entities.
- Ability to appropriately manage and incorporate differing views from diverse partners into productive discussions and outcomes.
- Ability to organize, prioritize, and manage multiple work tasks at a time.
- Familiarity with southwestern U.S. forests and/or similar ecosystems and management strategies to address current threats.
- Knowledge and experience in applying climate change science to the study and analysis of forest ecosystems and climate adaptation.
Education and Experience
- A Master’s degree in natural resource science (e.g. forestry, forest ecology, landscape ecology, fire science, geography, ecoinformatics, quantitative ecology) or a closely related field.
- Four to six years of research support experience or professional work experience in forest ecology, silviculture, fire suppression, fire science, landscape ecology, forest management, wildlife management or a closely related field.
- A combination of related education, experience and training may be used as an equivalent to the above educational requirements.
Preferred Qualifications
- A Ph.D. in natural resource science (e.g. forestry, forest ecology, landscape ecology, fire science, wildlife biology, geography, informatics, quantitative ecology) or a closely related field.
- Two or more years experience coordinating delivery outcomes including event planning for workshops, webinars, field tours.
- Demonstrated experience working in collaborative teams to innovate better science communication to diverse audiences.
- Demonstrated ability to communicate effectively across cultural boundaries and work harmoniously with diverse groups of students, faculty, staff, and stakeholders outside the university setting.
- Excellent demonstrated verbal and written communication skills and experience conveying complex forest and fire ecology science to technical and non-technical audiences.
- Experience in spatial and non-spatial modeling, including fire behavior modeling, and/or methods to study trends and predicted changes in forest conditions, forest health and wildfire risk, and values at risk over time.
For more info and to apply, visit nau.edu/careers and search for job ID # 607923.
Applications due by July 15, 2024.