Job Opening – Postdoctoral Research Associate at Texas Tech University – Department of Plant and Soil Sciences
The Department of Plant and Soil Sciences at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas is seeking a Postdoctoral Research Associate to perform research focused on crop-climate modeling, aimed at identifying and classifying the target population of environments based on soil and climatic parameters. The position involves integration of IPCC based climatic scenarios and identifying sorghum ideotypes (or trait combinations) that would be sustainable under future climatic conditions and ascertainment of the dynamic changes in the Southern High Plains cropping systems based on historical and future climate. Specific responsibilities include assembling extensive soil and climatic information from a wide range of publicly available sources (including satellite-based images) and developing tools to integrate crop traits that would allow for increased yield and stress tolerance depending on target locations. Additionally, the candidate will be responsible for performing data analysis using historical and future climatic conditions, drafting peer-reviewed scientific publications, actively contributing to developing proposals and carrying out field experiments to support model outputs. Travel is required and may comprise up to 25% of the working hours.
The position is full time and the salary is commensurate upon the qualifications of the individual selected and budgetary guidelines of the hiring department, as well as, the institutional pay plan. Applications are being accepted on a rolling basis until a candidate is selected. Applicants must utilize the Texas Tech University job portal to apply.
The following documents are required:
- Cover letter
- CV
- Research statement
- Unofficial transcripts from BS, MS, and/or PhD degrees
- Contact information for three professional references
Job Requirements:
Required:
- a Ph.D. in agronomy or crop physiology, with a major proportion of the PhD dealing with crop-climate modeling
- a strong background in crop modeling and the ability to work independently
- a desire to address challenging hypotheses related to crop-climate modeling
- a willingness to work across different disciplines to address ground-based complex problems by developing solutions through modeling
- a strong intention to publish in highly reputed peer-reviewed journals and develop proposals
- a willingness to apply some of the modeling techniques to the work of the team, including that of graduate students or researchers
- the ability to establish and maintain positive and effective working relationships with other team members, faculty at TTU and collaborators from other universities
- willingness to work in a multicultural atmosphere and to operate as a team, including field work during peak summer months
- openness to mentoring graduate students and visiting scholars on operation of crop and climate models in crop science
Preferred:
- extensive hands-on experience
- first author publications in dealing with major crop models, including but not restricted to APSIM or DSSAT
- highly preferred – publications in reputed peer-reviewed journals that demonstrate the ability to integrate historical climatic conditions to ascertain crop performance under future climatic scenarios such as water-deficit and/or heat stress understanding of crop physiology
For more information see the job posting.
