[ES_JOBS_NET] Assistant Project Scientist - Climate and Vegetation Dynamics - UC Berkeley

[Lara Kueppers]

Please share this job announcement!

*Assistant Project Scientist - Climate and Vegetation Dynamics - UC 
Berkeley*

Applicants can now apply here: https://aprecruit.berkeley.edu/JPF03508.

The first review date has been extended to 8/23/2022.

The Energy and Resources Group (ERG) within the Rausser College of 
Natural Resources (RCNR) at the University of California, Berkeley (UCB) 
seeks applications for an Assistant Project Scientist to further 
understanding of how climate change and disturbance processes affect 
vegetation and ecosystem dynamics.

The appointee will work with the Kueppers Lab, which works across 
tropical, temperate and alpine ecosystems using dynamic regional models 
and fieldwork to inform stewardship of ecosystems under climate pressure.

As climate change begins to affect a wide range of ecosystems there are 
key challenges ahead. These include anticipating and understanding 
potential ecological consequences, developing management options to 
limit negative outcomes, and quantifying the potential for ecosystems to 
draw down atmospheric carbon in addition to maintaining other 
ecoclimatic benefits.

To address these challenges, the Kueppers lab integrates data from 
climate change experiments and diverse observations into dynamic models 
of vegetation and ecosystem change. This requires simultaneous 
consideration of changes in temperature, water balance, CO2 and 
disturbance regimes, as well as the plant functional diversity within 
ecosystems that can buffer ecosystem scale response.

The appointee will play a central role in testing, applying and 
developing a cutting-edge dynamic, demographic, vegetation model of 
Western U.S. ecosystems and fire regimes. The modeling framework is the 
Functionally Assembled Terrestrial Ecosystem Simulator (FATES), which is 
embedded within the CTSM land surface model, and includes an adapted 
version of the SPITFIRE model of fire behavior.

The appointee will work with collaborators at multiple Universities and 
National Laboratories to utilize high-resolution regional atmospheric 
forcing and evaluate model output with synthesized in situ and remotely 
sensed observations.

On a day to day basis, the employee will conduct and communicate 
important original research through some combination of each of the 
following: synthesizing and analyzing data; running and interpreting 
model simulations; taking the lead in writing presentations, proposals 
and progress reports; mentoring and co-mentoring students; giving 
presentations to a range of audiences; organizing project team meetings; 
and talking with scientists, land managers and policy makers to inform 
research objectives. The employee may also supervise research assistants 
and develop and submit original research proposals.

Goals of the current project include simulating ecological effects of 
historic management and atmospheric change to understand how compounding 
drivers interact to produce current vegetation structure, and simulating 
the response of ecosystem carbon and severe wildfire risk to alternative 
fuel management and climate scenarios.

Future projects will be developed jointly to address gaps in 
observations of post-fire vegetation regeneration under climate change 
and interactions between forest structure and hydrology among other topics.

In addition to pursuing novel and impactful research, the appointee is 
expected to lead and contribute to grant proposals, mentor graduate and 
undergraduate students, coordinate multi-institutional collaborations, 
and cultivate relationships with policy makers, land managers and others 
invested in the future of Western U.S. ecosystems.

Apply here: https://aprecruit.berkeley.edu/JPF03508.

If this position looks compelling but you don't have the expected 
experience, I am also considering postdocs in the same general area. 
Please apply or reach out to me at the email address below.  - Lara

-- 
Lara M. Kueppers (she/her)
Associate Professor, Energy & Resources Group, UC Berkeley
Faculty Scientist, Climate and Ecosystem Sciences Division, Berkeley Lab
lmkueppers at berkeley.edu
510.457.6524

Office hours sign-ups:https://calendly.com/lmkueppers_ucb/open-office-hours
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