Post-doctoral Researcher at The Pennsylvania State University and University of Minnesota
The members of the national SARS-CoV-2/cervid Targeted Surveillance Team are seeking two Post-doctoral Researchers over the next several months to join our collaboration. The Team’s overarching objective is to uncover the ecological conditions that generate spatial hotspots of SARS-CoV-2 transmission and persistence in free ranging wildlife. We are particularly excited about recruiting an individual with strong interests in interdisciplinary disease ecology and specific skills in human movement, host abundance estimation, spatial ecology and GIS, statistical inference, machine learning, and/or software development. The task of these new team members will be to lead development of host ecology risk layers that explain epidemiological dynamics of SARS-CoV-2 at the wildlife-human interface using statistical methodology. The post-doctoral researchers will be responsible for developing software/programs to generate various covariate layers at national scales along with working with team members to facilitate compiling these covariates for multiple states across the continental US. The work will be in collaboration with a broader team collecting SARS-CoV-2 surveillance data in wildlife.

One full-time position is located at the Pennsylvania Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania. This is a limited-term position funded for up to 2-years from date of hire pending performance. Start date is flexible but late fall 2023-winter 2024 is preferable.

The other full-time position is in the Department of Ecology, Evolution and Behavior, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, Minnesota. This is a limited-term position funded for up to 2-years from date of hire pending performance. Start date is flexible but late fall 2023-winter 2024 is preferable.

Salary: $60,000 - 65,000/year plus benefits.

Closing date: Until position filled

Qualifications: Competitive candidates should be highly motivated and possess a PhD in spatial ecology of mammalian species and disease epidemiology or a related discipline with a strong quantitative emphasis. The selected candidate must provide evidence all requirements have been met for the completion of the PhD prior to the effective date of hire. Specific experience with Program R, Bayesian methodologies, and methods in advanced spatial ecology/statistics is required. The ability to work both independently and collaboratively in a team environment is essential. Submission to or publishing in peer-reviewed journals is required and mandatory prior to any potential renewal beyond the one-year appointment. Please provide: (1) a cover letter detailing your experiences for the qualifications above and how they have prepared you for this position, (2) a CV, (3) names and contact information of three professional references, and (4) two relevant publications. Please submit these materials to Dr. W. David Walter (wdw12@psu.edu) and Dr. Meggan Craft (craft@umn.edu) as a single pdf. Qualified applicants will need to also submit the same application materials to Penn State’s employment website at https://psu.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/PSU_Academic/job/Penn-State-University-Park/Postdoctoral-Scholar_REQ_0000045485-1 and University of Minnesota’s employment website by: 1) visiting https://humanresources.umn.edu/jobs, 2) clicking on the tab in the center of the page that corresponds to the applicant’s situation/status, and 3) Search Job ID 356225.