​Vector Borne Disease Ecology Postdoctoral Associate Position - QDEC Lab UF

The Quantitative Disease Ecology and Conservation (QDEC) Lab at UF (http://www.sadieryan.net) is looking for a postdoctoral associate to join the team! The position is associated with the CDC funded Southeastern Regional Center of Excellence in Vectorborne Disease (http://cdcsercoevbd-flgateway.org/) at the Emerging Pathogens Institute (http://www.epi.ufl.edu/), as part of the bioinformatics core. Funding is available for 2 years, annually renewed, pending performance and fit. Additional funding and projects are possible for the right candidate through QDEC ongoing projects.

The role of the bioinformatics core in the center is to provide both data management and analytical support to a variety of vectorborne disease (VBD) projects within the Center of Excellence projects. From this position, the postdoctoral associate has the flexibility and opportunity to pursue a number of avenues within the Center and participate in ongoing QDEC VBD projects.

The position is expected to comprise approximately 25% communication, outreach, web content creation and management, and 75% research project time.

SKILLS:
A range of background skills can be useful for this position - current postdoctoral associate Gaby Hamerlinck is conducting molecular lab work for an IR project that appeared and seemed like a good fit for the group, but was not anticipated at hiring.

Required skill:
Communication skills across both academic and agency partnerships - tons of need/opportunity for Science Communication
One or more of the desired skills, and/or other skill you bring that you think is important.

Desired skills:
Biostatistical/modeling background, particularly with large geospatial data
Spatial statistics, time series analysis, Bayesian model fitting
Experience in quantitative ecological methods, and their application to real-world datasets
Experience with epidemiological, ecological, or other relevant long-term datasets
GIS experience (particularly WebGIS server use, or ability to learn very rapidly) – ArcGIS (ESRI products) experience preferred, but other systems experience is great too
Database management experience, including programming skills for QA/QC and for queries
Good, fast, writer

Preferred experience:
R programming, including code prep for publishing and sharing
Web content generation and management (WordPress, e.g.)
Project management experience/active role in large collaborative projects
Mentorship skills for junior lab members and rising scientists

We encourage applications from minorities and other underrepresented groups.

Please apply by sending a cover letter, names of references, CV, and any relevant project material (e.g. websites, code repositories), and desired starting date, to Sadie J. Ryan (sjryan@ufl.edu). Review of applications will start on March 15th, 2019, and applications will be accepted until the position is filled.