Postdoctoral Research Scholar - Prescribed Fire and Forest Landscape Conditions
We invite applications for a full-time Postdoctoral Research Scholar appointment to be held at the Center for Geospatial Analytics <https://cnr.ncsu.edu/geospatial/>, NC State University, and USDA Forest Service Southern Research Station <https://research.fs.usda.gov/srs>, Research Triangle Park, NC. Prescribed fire is important for managing, conserving, and maintaining forests and other ecosystems in the South, which leads the nation in applying prescribed fire. Improved understanding of recent prescribed fire history of forests is important for assessing the current and potential future conditions of forests across the South. While many data sets like remotely sensed and forest inventory and analysis data (FIA) include information on disturbance and management events, prescribed burns and other low severity fires are more challenging to characterize across large extents. Therefore, we lack other comprehensive, spatially consistent records of prescribed fire and its effects on forests and other ecosystems across broad regions and multiple ownerships in the South. New remote sensing-derived products capture low-severity fires and have potential to characterize recent prescribed fire trends across broad extents. The successful applicant will work with Drs. Jelena Vukomanovic and Jennifer Costanza to build spatially explicit fire history information for one or more regions of the Southern US, and examine the relationship between those burn history metrics and metrics of forest condition from FIA and related data sets. Successful applicants will have opportunities to develop related, independent research. Funding is available for two years at $70-80K/year (commensurate with qualifications) with full benefits. Support will also be provided for professional development and conference travel. Start date is negotiable, with a preferred start in May/June 2025. Responsibilities - Compile remotely sensed and field data to build a spatially explicit dataset of fire history information for one or more regions of the US Southeast. - Investigate the relationship between forest conditions and a set of forest condition metrics from forest inventory data to assess impacts of prescribed fire on forest conditions at the landscape or broader scales - Project management, leading analysis, modeling, and visualization efforts, and coordinating project communication - Prepare and submit manuscripts for publication in scholarly journals - Work successfully in a team environment and collaborate effectively with a federal agency, academic, and other research partners. Qualifications - Completed PhD in Forestry, Ecology, Natural Resources, Geospatial Analytics, or related field. - Expertise in fire science, fire behavior models, fuel mapping, and/or fire risk assessment - Working knowledge of forest or ecosystem dynamics and disturbance ecology - Expertise in GIS, remote sensing, and statistics and programming proficiency in R, Python, or a similar language - Excellent oral and written English communication skills - Demonstrated research accomplishments and publications in the primary research literature To apply, please send the following to Dr. Jelena Vukomanovic ( jvuk...@ncsu.edu) and Dr. Jennifer Costanza (jennifer.costa...@usda.gov): - a letter of motivation outlining your interests and how you meet the qualifications above - your CV and recent (unofficial) transcripts - relevant publications - the names and contact information of three academic references who have agreed to provide a personal and professional recommendation if requested Deadline for applications: Review of applications will start *3/15/2025* and will continue until the position is filled. We will contact applicants selected for an interview. Jelena Vukomanovic, PhD Associate Professor, Department of Parks, Recreation, and Tourism Management Faculty Fellow, Center for Geospatial Analytics Pronouns: she/her/hers | Pronounced: "YELL-e-na Vu-ko-man-o-vich" College of Natural Resources Jordan Hall 5123 | Campus Box 8004 North Carolina State University Raleigh, NC 27695 USA jvuk...@ncsu.edu | GoogleScholar <https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=3pWtxZEAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao> | *https://cnr.ncsu.edu/geospatial/people/jelena-vukomanovic/ <https://cnr.ncsu.edu/geospatial/people/jelena-vukomanovic/>* To unsubscribe from this list please go to https://community.esa.org/confirm/?u=RhPWqPxFwODKvbkiT32nkIqRrsiSgulp
