Postdoctoral Researcher Position—Soil Monitoring

SUMMARY: We seek a postdoctoral researcher to collaborate on a new project focused on building a global soil spectroscopy network and estimation service. The use of diffuse reflectance spectroscopy for rapid and low-cost provision of soil data is rising throughout the world. Working with multiple global partners, this project will create a network for coordinating these different efforts with a goal of building and deploying an open-source web-based soil spectral estimation service. We will tackle many of the outstanding technical challenges needed to harmonize soil data and spectral databases and develop multiple use cases demonstrating the utility of expanded soil data for applications ranging from sustainable land management to climate change.

·     Network coordinator – you will be the primary point of contact for all network members and facilitate working group meetings

·     Design and execute experiments to optimize various aspects of soil spectral predictions

·     Stay current on soil spectroscopy and chemometric literature

·     Maintain website and communicate effectively with interested stakeholders

·     Publish and present findings at national and international meetings

·     Ph.D. (granted or expected soon) in soil science, earth system science, environmental data science, chemistry, computer sciences, mathematics, or related disciple.

·     Working knowledge of spectroscopy - soil applications highly preferred - or pedometrics

·     Demonstrated multivariate or machine learning data analysis skills and familiarity with open source ML libraries.

·     Ability to implement and modify complex code and learn new programming skills as needed.

·     Strong data management skills including familiarity with metadata standards and relational database structures.

·     Experience facilitating group meetings, public speaking and networking.