2 Positions Available (Summer 2018)
Wednesday, May 9th – Friday, August 10th** **with possible extension through Friday, August 17th
Location: 1 position in State College, PA; 1 position in Coudersport, PA
Pay: Full time, 40hr/week appointment. Crew leaders – $12.50/hr. Housing is provided, along with access to a field vehicle.
Description: These positions are part of a long-term vegetation monitoring project assessing the effects of white-tailed deer browsing and other factors on understory plant community composition and tree regeneration (http://ecosystems.psu.edu/research/projects/deer). We are also advertising for an incoming PhD student to work on the project under the direction of Marc McDill and Kim Steiner in the Ecosystem Science and Management Department at Penn State University. The PhD candidate will focus on oak regeneration in central Pennsylvania. The State College crew leader position would ideally be filled by the incoming student.
Duties:
Must be able to find, monument, and inventory permanent forest
vegetation plots using GPS and other tools in central or northern
Pennsylvania. Daily duties include navigation to remote parts of
Pennsylvania state forest lands, hiking up to 2 miles with equipment,
and collection of quality vegetation monitoring data-the identification,
size class, and abundance of more than 100 species of overstory and
understory plants-with a field PC.
In addition to performing the duties described above, crew leaders must
be able to successfully manage and lead a vegetation monitoring crew
while they perform daily duties. This includes daily planning of plot
visits, assessing access routes and equipment needs, and
management/archiving of collected data.
Key qualifications:
Possession of a baccalaureate degree in natural resources or a related
field; demonstrated plant identification skills (as evidenced by at
least one year experience as field technician monitoring vegetation
data); ability to supervise and manage field crews under difficult field
conditions; possession of a valid driver’s license.
Questions: Contact Danielle Begley-Miller at dfb5098@psu.edu.
Application deadline: Applications reviewed as received.
To apply: Send a letter, résumé, transcripts, and contact information
for three references (via email preferred) to Bobbi Joy Scovern. At
least one reference should be able to comment on your plant
identification skills. In your letter, please indicate if you would like
to be considered for a crew leader position.
Email applications to:
Bobbi Joy Scovern, Administrative Support Assistant
Pennsylvania Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit
419 Forest Resources Building
University Park, PA 16802
Email: bys5@psu.edu
Phone: 814-865-4511