Research Technologist

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JOB DESCRIPTION AND POSITION REQUIREMENTS:

The Department of Plant Pathology and Environmental Microbiology in the College of Agricultural Sciences at Penn State is hiring a Research Technologist in Soilborne Pathology, Biocontrol and Pathogen Diagnosis. The Research Technologist will be responsible for the following:

Mechanisms underlying soilborne fungal diseases and biocontrol for soilborne fungal diseases: How to make biocontrol effective and reliable? This project explores the questions of how Trichoderma -based biocontrol agents interact with soilborne fungal pathogens, tomato, and soil microbial communities and how their interactions affect tomato growth and health. The work involves multiple approaches (field/greenhouse evaluation of biocontrol efficacy, molecular imaging of root colonization by biocontrol agents and pathogens, metabolomics, and metagenome analysis).

Pathogen identification: Diverse pathogens/pests frequently move around through globalized crop production/distribution systems and the increasing movement of other goods. Besides direct crop loss and increased cost for plant care, diseases caused by novel pathogens often incur additional losses by requiring regulatory actions and disrupting commodity trade and markets. As “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure,” proactively enhancing diagnostics capability and our understanding of pathogen ecology/diversity can help minimize such losses by detecting and identifying newly introduced pathogens early. The main goal of this long-term collaborative project between Penn State (Seogchan Kang), the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, and U.A. Forest Service is to enhance our preparedness against diverse pathogens. The project aims to: a) evaluate the risk of Phytophthora to ornamental industries and forest ecosystems by characterizing the spatial and temporal diversity of Phytophthora in Pennsylvania and other states, b) characterize bacterial pathogens collected from tomato, potato, and pepper by PDA via sequencing to determine their diversity and variation, c) help develop diagnostic tools based on nanomaterial-based chemical sensors, and d) curate Phytophthora Database, an online tool for Phytophthora identification, in collaboration with collaborators and the Penn State .

Project management: Anticipated duties related to project management include a) help prepare reports to funding agencies by working with project participants, including external collaborators; b) work with others in the lab and external collaborators to prepare research manuscripts; c) help train and supervise new students; d) order supplies needed for research projects and monitor budget expenditure; and e) manage lab microbial culture collections (e.g., checking and updating the microbial culture inventories, activating cultures for various experiments, preserving new cultures from collaborators, and shipping the culture(s) requested by collaborators).

This is a fixed-term position funded for one year from date of hire with a possibility of continuous funding. This position will be located at Penn State in University Park. 

Education and Experience: Typical requirements for this position includes a Bachelor's Degree or higher; Master's Degree preferred, plus 7 or more years related experience, or an equivalent combination of education and experience. In addition to research experiences in the areas noted above, excellent writing, project management, and organization skills are required. Salary will commensurate with experience .

Application Instructions: Please submit a single pdf file consisting of a cover letter outlining relevant educational and research background and career goals, CV, and contact information for three referees through the online system (https://hr.psu.edu/careers ). Please also email the same application file to Seogchan Kang at [email protected] .

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