Postdoctoral Associate

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The Cooperative Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Studies (CIMAS) has an exciting

opportunity for a full-time Post-Doctoral appointment to work with the Gulf and Caribbean Reef Fish Branch of the NOAA Southeast Fisheries Science Center in Pascagoula, MS, Panama City, FL, or  Miami, FL. The successful individual will work closely with fisheries scientists from all NMFS Science Centers involved in the NMFS Optics Strategic Initiative (OSI). The OSI project seeks to transform optics-based surveys to state-of-the-art automated post-processing work flows, thereby increasing the processing efficiency and utility of vital survey data used to assess a wide variety of marine resources.

The successful candidate will collaborate on a national research project aimed at implementation of automated image analysis. Incumbent will largely focus on implementing current pipelines for fish detection developed in the SEFSC, but will potentially be asked to provide input across a broad set of taxa for which solutions are sought (e.g. plankton, mammals, corals). Some at-sea data collection on existing SEFSC resource surveys will be required.  The incumbent will work with NMFS scientists to create various AI/ML models, but will be particularly focused on deriving methods to assess the accuracy and precision of resultant automated data sets in anticipation of assuring resource managers that the derived processes and resultant data streams are trustworthy.    In so doing, OSI will operationalize large-scale image collection, storage, and processing thereby moving AI/ML from a research phase into operational use.

DEPARTMENT SPECIFIC FUNCTIONS

The successful candidate will

• Leverage existing validated datasets to design, test, and evaluate analytical methods to evaluate the trustworthiness of AI/ML data for a wide variety of natural resource surveys.
• Utilize validated optics datasets for inclusion in the development of automated fish detection and classification models.
• Assist with the development of data transfer and sharing agreements, pipelines, and guidelines for cloud storage and computing.
• Assist with populating cloud storage repositories and implementing cloud computing
• Test encoded methods on validated datasets and assess precision, recall, and other metrics of performance, and refine methods to produce stable and acceptable processing algorithms (i.e. trustworthy AI).
• Help develop and operationalize a toolbox (e.g. R package) for automated optics processing.
• Test toolboxes on validated datasets and unvalidated datasets
• Help establish a community of practice around implementation of AI.
• Help in at-sea data collection.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

• Ph.D. in a natural science field with coursework pertinent to the following skills.
• Proficiency in mathematics and statistics.
• Proficiency in machine learning or other AI methods.
• Proficiency in software languages, e.g. Python, R.
• Cloud computing (e.g. Google Cloud Platform).
• Experience with, knowledge of, or willingness to learn the principles and theories of fisheries science and management, data analysis, and optical survey methods.
• Flexibility working with diverse teams in-person and remotely across multiple time zones.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills
• Ability to spend extended time period working on vessels at sea.
• Access to the NOAA Federal Center’s computers is necessary to perform the work of this position. Access is not available for individuals working in the United States through a visa or a working permit. Therefore, we are unable to consider applications from individuals on a visa or working permit or requiring visa sponsorship for this position now or in the future.

Preference will be given to individuals with strong skills in the development and testing of AI/ML models. Familiarity with cloud processing pipelines is preferred. The position is currently funded for 3 years. The position will be located at the NOAA Fisheries Southeast Fisheries Science Center in Pascagoula, MS, Panama City, FL, or Miami, FL.

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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