Postdoctoral Associate or Research Scientist

A postdoctoral associate or research scientist with a passion for social-ecological science is sought for a 2.5 year study on the socio-ecological benefits and impacts of haying, grazing and silvopasture on Conservation Reserve Program lands in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern United States. The postdoctoral associate will be directly supervised by Dr. Sarah Karpanty (ecologist) but this is a collaborative, interdisciplinary project and thus this position will be co-mentored by Karpanty and Drs. Ashley Dayer (social scientist), Ben Tracy (agroecologist), Elizabeth Hunter (ecologist), Carola Haas (ecologist), and John Fike (forage extension specialist) at Virginia Tech. The project team also includes Drs. Houston Chandler (Orianne Society) and Kevin Loope (conservation scientist) and a full-time natural resources specialist. The university values diversity and continually strives to maintain and promote an inclusive learning and research environment that embrace all students, faculty, and staff. We are particularly interested in applications from persons identifying with groups currently underrepresented in natural resources fields, including but not limited to Black, Indigenous, people of color, people with disabilities, and underrepresented genders. This would include cis women, trans women, trans men, non-binary people, and those who are otherwise marginalized.

The research project is funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Farm Service Agency. The project objectives are 1) to summarize existing scientific knowledge on the benefits and impacts of haying, grazing and silvopasture on ecosystem services across the United States, 2) to study landowner interests, needs and constraints for grazing and silvopasture on CRP lands in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern US, and 3) to use the existing knowledge and landowner needs to design a robust field study to quantify the benefits and impacts of realistic applications of haying, grazing and silvopasture on CRP lands in this same region, with particular attention given to the USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service’s Working Lands for Wildlife priority species for conservation.

The successful candidate will: 1) Coordinate project logistics and team activities; 2) Design and implement literature review and surveys of landowners; 3) Travel to meet with landowners throughout the Southeastern US and assess site suitability for study objectives; 4) Manage data and conduct statistical analyses and lead report-writing; 5) Assist in supervision of natural resource specialist; 6) Present at annual meetings with USDA partners and at national conferences; 7) Mentor research staff, undergraduate and graduate students in the lab group as appropriate and aligned with candidate’s career goals; 8) Publish peer-reviewed articles; and 9) Be an active member of a robust post-doc community at Virginia Tech.

The position requires travel to meet landowners and assess site suitability in Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida and for partner meetings and conferences in the US and possibly internationally