[ES_JOBS_NET] Fwd: One-Year Postdoctoral Position - Rio Grande River Study

[Aparna Bamzai]

*1-Year Postdoctoral Research Position*



*University of Oklahoma*



*Center for Applied Social Research*



The University of Oklahoma’s Center for Applied Social Research seeks a
one-year postdoctoral researcher to conduct in-situ, field-based interviews
along the Rio Grande and Rio Conchos (Mexico) river basins in order to
assess how people who manage water – including, but not limited to,
municipalities, farmers and ranchers, tribal nations, the Corps of
Engineers, power generators and industry, recreational managers, et al. –
make decisions and how those decisions shape and are shaped by upstream and
downstream conservation needs. This position has an expected start date of
October 1, 2015 (contingent upon federal approval of funding) and is funded
by a grant from the US Geological Survey (USGS) through the South Central
Climate Science Center’s (located at the University of Oklahoma).


The postdoctoral researcher should: 1) Be familiar with qualitative social
science methods and have experience with face-to-face interviewing
techniques. Applicants with a Ph.D. in the natural sciences -- especially
ecological and environmental sciences -- are also encouraged to apply if
they can demonstrate experience in qualitative social science research
methods. 2) Be willing and able to spend 60-70 days on the road, driving
the expanse of the Rio Grande (Colorado, New Mexico, and Texas) and parts
of the Rio Conchos (Mexico). This will involve extensive, long-distance
driving. 3) Be highly organized, responsible, and self-directed in order to
schedule interviews and stakeholder-based focus groups in 10 reaches of the
targeted river systems in order to capture diverse and representative
perspectives from across this vast region. 4) Be a strong communicator who
can work with diverse stakeholders (from federal/state water managers to
representatives of industry to local community members who might lack
clearly defined organizational representation). 5) Be a strong and
enthusiastic collaborator who can work with collaborators across multiple
disciplines (hydrology, geology, geography, economics, and scholars who
work with system dynamics modeling) and is enthusiastic about scholarly
publishing. 6) Be a bilingual Spanish-speaker who is able to conduct short
research trips to Mexico (the project will involve 2-3 weeks of fieldwork
in Mexico’s Rio Conchos river basin that will also seek to understand water
management practices and beliefs as regards the interaction between the Rio
Conchos and the Rio Grande). We do not require that the applicant show
*perfect* fluency in Spanish, but, the candidate should be competent enough
in Spanish to be able to conduct interviews about water management
practices and decision-making. 7) Be familiar with or willing to learn
about system dynamics modeling and/or theories of contingent valuation
(“willingness-to-pay”) – elements central to the other PIs on this project.
While this familiarity is a benefit, it is NOT required; however, a
willingness to work across disciplines and with the other PIs on this
project is expected.


Project Summary:  Severe droughts and human development in the Rio Grande
River Basin have profoundly impacted the quantity and quality of water for
natural and human systems throughout the Basin. Bringing together
anthropologists, economists, integrated dynamics modelers, and geographers,
this research will examine the coupled human-natural systems of the Basin.
The researchers will gather primary data on socio-economic, cultural,
political, and organizational factors affecting both the perceptions of
publics and resource managers’ beliefs and behaviors in order to construct
a system dynamics model to better inform the decisions/behaviors of
managers, policy makers, and publics. This research project will support
collaborations with partners from four Landscape Conservation Cooperatives
– Southern Rockies LCC, Desert LCC, Gulf Coast Prairie LCC, and Great
Plains LCC to identify key stakeholders and resource/conservation managers
in 10 reaches of the River. We will conduct interviews, surveys, and
ethnographic participant observation across the Basin to understand where,
why, and what similarities and differences in perceptions and management
practices exist across the Basin. These data will be integrated with
existing socio-economic databases and studies of communities in the Basin
in order to contribute to a system dynamics model of the watershed that
will include established hydrological and ecosystem data, with the goal of
providing an integrated coupled human-natural systems model of the Basin.
The system dynamics model will be presented/tested at the planned Rio
Grande River Forum (Fall 2016) and then operationalized for managers,
policy makers, and publics throughout the region as a decision-support tool
that allows users to consider a range of “what-if” scenarios that would
include costs and benefits to both human and natural systems throughout the
Basin.


Those who are interested in applying for this position and contributing to
this research must apply for this position online at
https://jobs.ou.edu (Requisition
Number 22968). The direct link to the job listing is:



https://jobs.ou.edu/applicants/jsp/shared/position/JobDetails_css.jsp?postingId=337288


Review of applications will begin on *August 15, 2015 *and will continue
until the position is filled. For further information on this or other OU
job opportunities, please call (405) 325-1826, or access our website at
http://hr.ou.edu/. The University of Oklahoma is an equal opportunity
institution. www.ou.edu/eoo.


 Interested applicants are *STRONGLY* encouraged to contact Dr. Jack
Friedman as soon as possible at jack.r.friedman at ou.edu for further details
about this research opportunity.



 --
***
Jack R. Friedman, Ph.D.
Center for Applied Social Research
University of Oklahoma
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