Postdoctoral Researcher

General Statement

The position is funded by a recent grant from the US Department of Energy (award number DE-SC0024296) to study the biogeochemical implications of nitrite-dependent methane-oxidizing bacteria recently identified from the metagenome of anoxic riparian groundwaters in central Montana.

These bacteria are known to occupy a metabolic niche in anaerobic marine microbial communities (Bertagnolli and Stewart 2018), but their abundance and biogeochemical relevance are not well characterized in anoxic freshwater systems like carbon-rich riparian wetlands or shallow riparian groundwaters.

This research is an extension of a long history of research on nitrogen cycling in central Montana agricultural landscapes by project co-PIs and is strongly motivated by the potential for these anaerobic bacterial communities to meaningfully influence greenhouse gas emissions of agricultural stream corridor ecosystems.

The strategic vision for model development is to characterize the thermodynamic favorability (sensu Payn et al. 2014) of nitrite-dependent methane oxidation in the context of other mechanisms of anaerobic metabolism in stream corridors. Duties and Responsibilities

• Creative development of simulation models of anaerobic metabolic processes in stream corridor groundwaters.
• Use of these models in combination with field data from the project to make intellectual contributions to understanding the biogeochemical behavior of anaerobic microbial communities.
• Assistance with organizing data product management and code sustainability for the project.
• Assistance with project management and inclusive mentorship of students and junior researchers on the project.

Required Qualifications Experience, Education, Knowledge & Skills

• Creative coding skills and the enthusiasm for building further software development skills necessary to develop the proposed modeling framework, both for the purpose of addressing the specific scientific questions in this project and for the purpose of developing more generally applicable software libraries.
• A PhD in an earth systems related field of research associated with aqueous biogeochemistry.
• The postdoctoral researcher will be expected to develop into a senior participant on a project team involving graduate and undergraduate student research.

Candidates must have experience that demonstrates their ability to provide safe and inclusive mentorship to diverse junior members of the team.

Preferred Qualifications Experience, Education, Knowledge & Skills

• Experience with development of a combination of C++ libraries utilized by R or Python analytical workflow management is currently envisioned, but experience in other relevant coding environments is open for consideration.
• Graduate research experience with publications in modeling of biogeochemical processes with links to genomic characterization of microbial communities.
• Experience and leadership in modular software development, effective code revision management (., git), and reproducible data product generation is preferred.

The Successful Candidate Will

• Be a motivated scholar with a strong work ethic.
• Have excellent oral and written communication skills.
• Have the ability to work independently on a wide variety of tasks and in different roles.
• Work productively in an inclusive, diverse, and team-oriented environment.
• Maintain excellent records, attention to detail, meet deadlines, prioritize competing demands, and should be skilled at prioritizing, organizing, and working on multiple projects.

Position Special Requirements / Additional Information This job description should not be construed as an exhaustive statement of duties, responsibilities, or requirements, but a general description of the job.

Nothing contained herein restricts Montana State University’s rights to assign or reassign duties and responsibilities to this job at any time.

Physical Demands To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily with or without reasonable accommodations.

The requirements listed above are representative of the knowledge, skill, and / or ability required. This position has supervisory duties? No