[ES_JOBS_NET] Early Career Fellowship Job Posting, Stanford CA

[Athena Serapio]

Water in the West Early Career Fellowship

 

Position

Water in the West (waterinthewest.stanford.edu), a joint program of the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment and the Bill Lane Center for the American West, is seeking an Early Career Fellow to develop an interdisciplinary program focused on allocating water for environmental purposes in the context of increasing demands for human uses, the risk of intense droughts, and climate change. The program will focus on engaging Stanford students and faculty in the issue of environmental water allocation through a variety of means, including teaching, research, and building partnerships. 

The Fellow will be a recent graduate who has received a JD or PhD in the last five years, and who has completed substantial course work and/or gained experience in water resources, hydrology, water law, water policy, or other water related fields.  The Fellow’s expertise may be in the social sciences, economics, hydrology, ecology, policy, or law, but the Fellow must have the capability of participating in and managing interdisciplinary projects. The Fellow will engage in teaching and supervising students and conducting solutions-focused research projects under the direction of the Water in the West director and other Stanford faculty and research staff.  The Fellow will be expected to actively engage with water managers, policymakers, and other key decision makers and stakeholders in the water arena. 

Water in the West’s purpose is to marshal the resources of Stanford University to find solutions to the central problem of water scarcity in the American West. Water in the West pursues this mission through research, active collaboration with decision makers and opinion leaders, effective public communications, and hands-on education of students.  Water in the West’s work is accomplished through program staff, affiliated faculty, and students.

The Early Career Fellow will work with Water in the West’s Executive Director in building a program focused on “Watershed Health.”  Reporting to the Executive Director, the Early Career Fellow will collaborate on a range of projects aimed at developing new tools for allocating water for the environment that are consistent with human demands on water, including for irrigated agriculture.   The projects we decide to pursue will depend upon the expertise and interests of the Fellow hired.  Some of the potential projects include:

·       Studying and developing proposals for operating rules and governance for water markets, water banks, and other transactional tools for reallocating water.

·       In the context of watersheds with extensive irrigation and other human water withdrawals, developing data collection and modeling tools to improve implementation of environmental flow targets and environmental water rights.  This project would focus on data deficits related to issues such as streamflow and watershed hydrology, water withdrawals, consumptive use by crops, the timing and location of return flows, and the interrelationship of the withdrawals and return flows of water rights holders.

·       Developing and studying tools for prioritizing use of environmental water during drought, potentially including optimizing use of a finite quantity of water or a finite pool of funds for purchasing water.  This project could also study the comparative effectiveness of different tools, including large scale changes in water management, multi-objective water markets, water banks, and regulatory/legal mechanisms such as the Endangered Species Act.

Key Responsibilities

·       Design, manage, and implement solutions-focused research projects.

·       Build partnerships with government agencies, water managers, and NGOs in order to develop research projects, find opportunities for students, and other relevant purposes.

·       Collaborate within interdisciplinary research teams, including hydrologists, ecologists, modelers, water lawyers, practitioners, and others.

·       Produce reports, academic journal articles, white papers, research briefs, blog posts, web site content, and other written material.

·       Present research findings for academic, policy focused, and public audiences.

·       Supervise and teach students in applied research settings and in internship/externship opportunities with project partners.

·       Organize conferences, expert workshops, and similar events related to the Fellow’s core work.

·       Represent Water in the West as needed at conferences or events.

·       Contribute to grants, funding applications, and grant reporting.

 

Early Career Fellowship Program Overview

The Early Career Fellowship program is designed to draw on and enhance the academic and professional skills of early career professionals and researchers by placing them in interdisciplinary collaborations focused on identifying, developing, and communicating about enduring solutions to the greatest challenges encountered in water resources management. The program is committed to providing each fellow with appropriate training and mentorship, including access to special leadership and communications workshops, courses and one-on-one training provided through the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment.   The fellow will be supervised by the Water in the West executive director, but in addition will be assigned an advisor from among the program’s contributing faculty, who will be responsible for providing ongoing advice and oversight. The decision of who will serve as the primary advisor for each fellow will depend on the fellow's disciplinary focus as well as the projects in which the fellow is involved.

The initial term of the fellowship is for 24 months, renewable up to a three-year term contingent on performance, funding, and fit. Fellows will also receive health insurance coverage, a relocation allowance, and limited support for travel and supplies.  Compensation will be consistent with Stanford’s postdoctoral fellow program.

 

Early Career Fellow Qualifications

Applicants must have received a terminal graduate degree (i.e. PhD and/or JD) in the last five years and be fluent English speakers and writers.

Applicants must demonstrate a strong interest and some experience in water resources management, hydrology, water law, or other related field.

Successful candidates will have demonstrated: (1) strong experience in communicating research to a variety of audiences in both written and oral format; (2) strong research skills using a range of relevant  methods; (3) experience with interdisciplinary collaborations; (4) substantial course work and/or gained experience in water law, water policy, water management, hydrology, or related fields; (5) a growing record of scholarly or other activities of high impact in their field; and (6) a commitment to communicating about solutions to the problem of water scarcity in the American West.

 

Application

Applicants should submit:


·       A letter of interest;

·       Curriculum vitae;

·       Contact information for three references, including at least one from an academic advisor and one from someone who is familiar with applicant's professional abilities;

·       Copies of undergraduate and graduate transcripts (official copies will be required for finalists);

·       Two relevant writing samples or links to online and social media posts.

Applications and inquiries should be submitted electronically to Athena Serapio at athena3 at stanford.edu.

Review of applications will begin on April 30, 2015



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Athena Serapio
Program Coordinator

WATER IN THE WEST
Stanford University
A joint program of the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment and the Bill Lane Center for the American West
Email: athena3 at stanford.edu
Phone: (650) 724-7609
Website: www.waterinthewest.stanford.edu
Twitter: @waterinthewest




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