Research technician for ecological analysis and modeling (USA)

The Gulf of Maine Research Institute is looking to hire a full-time research technician to assist with ecological analyses and modeling. The successful applicant will conduct statistical analysis and modeling of fish population and marine ecosystem data to support a range of research projects.  Much of the work in our lab currently focuses on understanding the impacts of climate change on fish populations, communities, and fisheries as well as on approaches to climate adaptation in marine fisheries. In the coming year, the technician will play a major role in developing analyses and models to help understand species distribution changes and their implications for fisheries and fishing communities in the Northeast.  The successful applicant will analyze past fishery and species distribution changes and develop, run, and evaluate models to predict future distributions of based on climate projections.  He/she will also help integrate those results into a quantitative social-ecological assessment of fishing community vulnerability to climate change. The successful candidate will have significant computing and statistical skills, proficiency in the R and/or MATLAB programming languages, and experience working with large, diverse data sets. Please see full job description and announcement at http://www.gmri.org/about-us/join-our-team/jobs/research-technician-0.  Application review will begin Sept. 1.


Required qualifications:
•       Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in scientific field that included quantitative coursework
•       Knowledge of oceanography, marine ecology, or fisheries science
•       Experience with statistical analyses and ecological modeling
•       Proficient programmer in R
•       Previous experience managing data sets
•       Strong organizational skills and ability to work independently
•       Strong verbal and written communication skills
•       Willingness to learn, adapt, and contribute to team tasks

Preferred qualifications:
•        Experience constructing species distribution models using presence-only and presence-absence data
•        Familiarity working with satellite data or climate model output
•        Familiarity with marine fisheries, protected resources, or spatial planning in New England
•        Proficient user of Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Access, SQL or other databases, ArcGIS
•       Familiarity with additional programming languages, such as MATLAB, Python, etc.

Kathy Mills
Associate Research Scientist
Gulf of Maine Research Institute
350 Commercial St.
Portland, ME 04101
(207)-228-1657
kmills@gmri.org