Assistant Scientist

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The Cooperative Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Studies (CIMAS) of the University of Miami in Miami, FL, invites applicants for an Assistant Scientist position. We seek an individual to join the Ocean Chemistry and Ecosystems Division (OCED) to lead marine environmental DNA metabarcoding research at NOAA’s Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory (AOML) in Miami, FL.

This position will be responsible of analyzing, writing, and publishing marine environmental DNA metabarcoding datasets to characterize seasonal and spatial distribution of marine life in south Florida waters and the broader Gulf of Mexico.  The incumbent will conduct multi-disciplinary research integrating eDNA measurements with hydrographic, biogeochemical, optical, plankton imaging, and satellite remote sensing data using high-performance computing (HPC) resources.

Responsibilities include:

• Analyze and synthesize metabarcoding data using HPC resources;
• Integrate satellite remote sensing and sequence-based biodiversity data to assess seasonal variability of microbial and planktonic communities across spatial scales;
• Merge eDNA records with concurrent plankton observations collected with imaging systems;
• Evaluate biogeographic patterns of microbial and planktonic assemblages in the region;
• Manage data in collaboration with AOML ‘omics data management staff;
• Utilize bioinformatics computing environments on supercomputers, on-premise cloud clusters, and cloud computing services;
• Develop standardized analysis workflows on HPC environments to streamline data analysis and significantly decrease the time from sampling to data dissemination;
• Assist with the publication of sequence data in nucleotide and biodiversity databases (i.e. NCBI, OBIS);
• Assist and/or advise collaborating researchers with the analysis of their 'omics datasets, using the HPC platforms and the aforementioned workflows;
• Lead the writing and publication of research manuscripts; and
• Seek intra- and extramural research funding.
   

Requirements:

Candidates for this position should have a PhD degree in Marine Biology/Ecology, Microbiology, Marine or Environmental Science, Oceanography, or a related field experience, and a minimum of one year of demonstrated postdoctoral experience with 1) analyzing multiple large metabarcoding and/or metagenomics DNA sequence datasets; 2) sea-going activities and oceanographic work (desirable but not a requirement); 3) collecting, analyzing and managing plankton imagery datasets; 4) data science programming (Python and/or R), the Unix command line, and computational workflows; and 5) statistical analysis of large multivariate environmental datasets.

The position will be located at the NOAA Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory's Ocean Chemistry and Ecosystem Division in Miami, FL.

Apply by submitting a CV and cover letter with three references.

The University of Miami is an Equal Opportunity Employer - Females/Minorities/Protected Veterans/Individuals with Disabilities are encouraged to apply. Applicants and employees are protected from discrimination based on certain categories protected by Federal law. Click here for additional information.

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