Announcement of Position Availability at the Jornada Basin LTER

TITLE: Research Assistant, Grade-15
START DATE: March 23, 2005
Hourly Rate: $11.72/hour ($24,477.84 per year)
HOURS: Full Time, Temporary Hire, 40 hours per week, for one year
PREFER: Field experience in plant identification and the use of dichotomous keys; knowledge of Chihuahuan Desert flora and fauna; experience with maintenance of climatological and hydrological instruments; field experience handling and identifying small mammals and reptiles; skill in the use of hand and power tools. The selected individual will be flexible, able to enjoy working in the field under high heat and sun exposure (as this is primarily a desert field position), work reliably both independently and as part of a team, establish and maintain effective working relationships with associates and principle investigators, be comfortable working safely with moderately hazardous materials, make sound judgments relative to analytical processes, recognize the extreme accuracy and consistency essential to long term research, assemble and record accurate data, follow detailed oral and/or written instructions exactly, communicate well both verbally and in writing, and have some supervisory skills. Acute attention to small details, enthusiasm, and the ability to get along well with co-workers, supervisors, and principle investigators are musts.
REQUIREMENTS: A Bachelor's degree in field of research applicable to the position and a driver's license are required. The individual must commit to a one-year minimum term of employment.
RESPONSIBILITIES: Work is based out of New Mexico State University in Las Cruces, NM. Individual will participate in the on-going and multi-disciplinary Jornada Basin Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) program on desertification in the Chihuahuan Desert. Research disciplines include hydrology (~25%), plant ecology (~23%), animal ecology (~11%), soils (~9%), climatology (~5%), and aeolian studies (~5%). Approximately 85% of the time spent outdoors collecting data, with the remaining 15% of the time spent in the lab processing samples, cleaning equipment, and checking data. Although the position is usually 40 hours a week, additional hours will occasionally be required both during the week and on weekends.
Specific field responsibilities include extensive plant identification and measurements; soil moisture measurements using a neutron probe; extensive collection of hydrology data and frequent maintenance of hydrological equipment; maintenance of field instruments, equipment, and infrastructure; and handling and identification of small mammals and reptiles (usually only lizards). The position will entail manual labor such as routine carrying of heavy instruments in the field for extended periods, maintaining and fixing fences, and painting large structures, and could include tasks like shrub removal, trenching, and soil coring. The individual will work with a wide variety of taxa and will be required to learn to identify all flora (~350 spp.) and selected fauna found in the research area.
General responsibilities include collecting and recording moderately complex data in both field and laboratory environments in accordance with established protocols, limited data entry, maintaining organizational and historical data for each study, aiding principle investigators with data collection and experimental design (assisting with design, testing, and/or modification of experimental equipment as well as installation of experimental apparatus).
For more information about the Jornada Basin LTER site and general research program, see http://jornada-www.nmsu.edu/.
DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS: Submit letter of application, resume, 3 letters of reference and any supportive materials (ie., publications) by February 16, 2005. Electronic submissions must be in MS WORD or Rich Test Format (RTF). Other formats will not be accepted.
REPLY TO: John P. Anderson, Jornada LTER Site Manager
USDA-ARS Jornada Experimental Range Voice: 505-646-5818
P.O. Box 30003 Fax:
505-646-5889
MSC 3JER New Mexico State University Email:
janderso@jornada.nmsu.edu
Las Cruces, NM 88003-0001 [2995
Knox Street, Suite 200 for FedEx, UPS, etc.]
If there are urgent questions that must be addressed before February 7, 2005 contact Dara Parker at dparker@jornada.nmsu.edu or 505-646-2106. On and after February 7, 2005, contact John Anderson.

Dara Parker, Senior Research Assistant
USDA-ARS, Jornada Experimental Range
NMSU, MSC 3JER
Las Cruces, NM 88003
office: (505) 646-2106
lab: (505) 646-7005
fax: (505) 646-5889
dparker@jornada.nmsu.edu