Postdoctoral Research Associate

The University of Maine School of Marine Sciences seeks applicants for a 2-year postdoctoral researcher position. The postdoc will work under the supervision of UMaine faculty member Dr. Lisa Kerr. For more information on ongoing research in Dr. Kerr’s lab see: https://gmri.org/commitments/science/quantitative-fisheries-research-lab/

The postdoc will conduct research through the Northeast Climate Integrated Modeling initiative (NCLIM). NCLIM is an interdisciplinary effort to support climate-informed fisheries decision making in the Northeast U.S. The effort is led by UMaine with partners at NOAA, Gulf of Maine Research Institute, Rutgers University, University of Delaware, and University of Massachusetts. To learn more about this work see: https://github.com/Northeast-Climate-Integrated-Modeling.

The successful candidate will be expected to conduct climate-integrated modeling, including stock assessment modeling and management strategy evaluation to inform fishery resource decision making in a changing Northeast U.S. shelf ecosystem. The work will involve: 1) examination of relationships between climate, oceanographic processes, and key aspects of fish stock dynamics, 2) integration of climate information into stock assessment models, and 3) application of management strategy evaluation to test alternative approaches to account for climate change impacts within the fisheries decision-making process. The postdoc will be expected to participate in stakeholder and regional fisheries management meetings and will interact with representatives from industry, federal and state scientific agencies, fishery management councils, and non-governmental organizations. Typical hiring range for this soft-money funded position is $60,000 to $63,000 commensurate with qualifications and experience.

Complete Job Description

About the University:

The University of Maine is a community of more than 11,900 undergraduate and graduate students, and 2,500 employees located on the Orono campus, the regional campus in Machias, and throughout the state. UMaine is a land, sea and space grant university, and maintains a leadership role as the University of Maine System's flagship institution. UMaine is the state's public research university and a Carnegie R1 top-tier research institution, dedicated to providing excellent teaching, research and service for Maine, the nation and the world. More information about UMaine is at umaine.edu. 

The University of Maine offers a wide range of benefits for employees including, but not limited to, tuition benefits (employee and dependent), comprehensive insurance coverage including medical, dental, vision, life insurance, and short and long term disability as well as retirement plan options. 

UMaine is located in beautiful Central Maine. Many employees report that a primary reason for choosing to come to UMaine is quality of life. Numerous cultural activities, excellent public schools, safe neighborhoods, high quality medical care, little traffic, and a reasonable cost of living make the greater Bangor area a wonderful place to live. Learn more about what the Bangor region has to offer here.

Qualifications:
Required: 

• A completed PhD degree by date of hire in a relevant discipline, such as Fisheries Science, Marine Fisheries Ecology, Applied mathematics, Statistics, or other related field that demonstrates a strong quantitative background.
• Experience fitting population dynamics models to data for fisheries stock assessment and application of simulation testing frameworks like Management Strategy Evaluation.
• Knowledge of fisheries management, and understanding of the management process in the U.S.
• Demonstrated experience and fluency in statistical/modeling programming languages (ie. R). 
• Experience working in high performance computing environment is preferred. 
• Strong written and oral communication skills, as evidenced through publications in the peer-reviewed scientific literature and presentations to a variety of audiences
• Demonstrated ability to work independently and as part of a team
• Applicants must be currently authorized to work in the United States on a full-time basis

Other Information: 

To be considered for this pos