The Integrated Agronomy team, led by Dr. Maryse Bourgault, is looking for a postdoctoral fellow to phenotype root growth and development, primarily in pea and lentil populations. The project is funded through the 2023-2028 Canadian Agricultural Partnership Pulse Cluster. This is therefore a 4-year position, provided satisfactory performance during the probation period.
Nature of Work:
The primary responsibilities of the Postdoctoral Fellow will be to conduct research associated with the Pulse Cluster project, namely, building custom-made root chambers, planning, designing, and implementing research protocols associated with the phenotyping of root growth, analyzing, interpreting and presenting data, and writing scientific manuscripts. Collaboration with colleagues in charge of the genotyping of the RILs will also be necessary. Other duties include, but are not limited to, supervision of part-time, seasonal employees and undergraduate interns, keeping laboratory spaces clean and organized, assistance with laboratory procedures, data analysis, assistance with meeting organization, grain producer farm visits, and presentations to agronomic meetings.
Typical Duties or Accountabilities:
- Building custom-made root chambers
- Planning, designing, and implementing research protocols associated with the phenotyping of root growth
- Analyzing, interpreting and presenting data for scientific manuscripts and presentations.
- General maintenance of research equipment
- Training and overseeing graduate and undergraduate students in field and laboratory procedures
- Assisting the Chair in engaging with collaborators and stakeholders, including extension activities
- Support for other field research projects as required
- Other duties as assigned.
Qualifications
Education:
A PhD degree in plant science, agronomy, crop physiology, plant physiology, or related discipline, preferably with experience in phenotyping roots or other drought adaptive traits. Candidates who are in the last stages of their PhD studies will also be considered provided there is a clear timeline to completion.
Licenses: Must possess a valid Saskatchewan drivers’ license or equivalent.
Experience:
The successful candidate has experience in:
- Demonstrated experience conducting controlled-environment and field experiments with crop plants. Phenotyping populations of crop plants for roots or other drought-adaptive traits would be considered an asset.
- Performing appropriate statistical analyses on experimental data; ability to use R for data analysis would be an asset. (Please expand on experimental designs used in the past)
- Publishing research results in reputable peer-reviewed scientific journals.
- Safe laboratory procedures.
- Supervisory experience would be considered an asset.
Skills:
- Demonstrated ability to use Microsoft Office Suite (Word, Excel, Outlook, Powerpoint, Teams, etc).
- Demonstrated ability to create and foster relationships with people of diverse backgrounds and education levels.
- Demonstrated ability to present research results to farmer and/or industry audiences.
To Apply: Applications will be accepted online only at careers.usask.ca and must include a cover letter, a statement addressing qualifications, and resume, and be submitted as a single PDF document. The statement addressing qualifications must address each and every one of the qualifications listed in the above sections on education, license, experience and skills. The use of subtitles is strongly recommended. We also strongly encourage providing specific examples of actions or behaviors to demonstrate experience or skill. Applications that fail to provide all of the information required will be considered incomplete and will not be assessed.
Review of applications will start on January 18th 2024, and continue until a suitable candidate is found.
Inquiries regarding this position can be directed to Dr. Maryse Bourgault ([email protected]).
Department: Plant Sciences
Status: Term
Employment Group: Post-Doctoral Fellows - PSAC
Full Time Equivalent (FTE): 1.0
Salary Information: The starting salary will be commensurate with education and experience.
Posted Date: 12/20/2023
Closing Date: open until filled
Number of Openings: 1
Work Location: On Campus