*Senior Analyst position supporting Ocean Health Index project*
National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS), UC Santa
Barbara
TIMEFRAME: 18 months starting as soon as possible; with funding for an
additional 18 months likely
A senior analyst is sought to work closely with the Ocean Health Index
(OHI) project (see below), and based at the National Center for
Ecological Analysis & Synthesis (NCEAS). The analyst will have broad
responsibilities and latitude in pursuing project goals.
*/Specific responsibilities: /*The National Center for Ecological
Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS), seeks a quantitative analyst/scientific
programmer/internet technologist to support the development of advanced
scientific applications for the Ocean Health Index (OHI) project. The
successful candidate will be based at NCEAS (downtown Santa Barbara, 735
State St.), and will be the key software engineer designing and
implementing powerful, geospatially-intelligent, Web-based information
resources in support of the 5 distributed teams on the OHI project, and
more generally for the marine conservation community. Principal duties
include: consult with scientific researchers in order to design, develop
and support efficient, appropriate, and powerful computational solutions
for scientific investigations and analytical products on the OHI
project; assist target groups in accomplishing these analyses by
developing, testing, and instructing researchers in the use of
custom-developed code created with these advanced tools; and work with
other NCEAS' technologists to coordinate developing codebase and
datasets into a generalized Web-based resource for marine conservation
researchers.
/Minimum requirements/:
Bachelor's degree or higher in quantitative science or engineering
field, including e.g. ecology, biology, earth sciences, geography,
geology, oceanography, or computer sciences/software engineering. Some
practical experience working with scientific data and analyses, ideally
within a research environment. Must have solid experience programming in
one or more of these languages: "R", MATLAB, SAS, PERL, Java, Python,
C/C++ or equivalent. Must have strong technical proficiency with
computers and network systems in general, including familiarity with
command-line interfaces for scripting and managing data/analyses. Must
be willing to and capable of rapid learning and utilization of a broad
range of emerging tools for scientific analysis. Good interpersonal and
organizational skills are a must, as well as ability to communicate
clearly about scientific and technical matters.
/Desired skillset/:
Advanced degree (Masters or higher) in quantitative science or
engineering field (see above examples). Strong theoretical and practical
background in statistical analysis or numerical modeling; formal
database modeling and implementation; and/or geospatial modeling and
analyses using GIS and other tools. Strong practical experience working
on earth or ocean science research topics, including especially
modeling, analysis and visualization of geospatial phenomena. Strong
leadership and technical writing skills will be useful.
To apply, please visit the Human Resources website for UCSB
(https://jobs.ucsb.edu <https://jobs.ucsb.edu/>) and click on ‘Search
Positions’ in the upper left corner and then search job title ‘senior
software engineer, ocean health index proj’. Review of applications will
begin on Feb. 4, 2010 and will continue until the position is filled.
* *
*Background on the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis*
Both positions will be based at the National Center for Ecological
Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS), a research center at University of
California Santa Barbara (UCSB). NCEAS, located in downtown Santa
Barbara, is a research center of the University of California, Santa
Barbara (see also www.nceas.ucsb.edu). NCEAS supports cross-disciplinary
research that uses existing data to address major fundamental issues in
ecology and allied fields, and their application to management and
policy. NCEAS is a unique institution with an explicit mission to foster
synthesis and analysis, turn information into understanding and, through
effective collaboration, alter how science is conducted. Since its
inception, NCEAS has become known as the leading facility for innovative
analysis and synthesis of existing environmental data, and for research
in the management of ecological information (ecoinformatics). The
resident community at NCEAS is unique and very dynamic; 15-20
post-doctoral researchers, several sabbatical faculty, and several other
researchers are at the center at any given time, supported by a large
administrative and IT staff. Additionally, hundreds of scientists from
around the world pass through the center for a week at a time as part of
research working groups, making for a exciting and scientifically
stimulating work environment.
*Background on Ocean Health Index (OHI) project*
The Ocean Health Index (OHI) is a new quantitative way to measure
whether the ocean’s health improves or declines over time. It is a
composite index based on indicators drawn from international agreements,
intergovernmental panels and other high-level recommendations regarding
marine conservation and resource use. Its indicators measure the most
critical ocean stressors (climate change, fisheries, habitat
destruction, pollution and invasive species) as well as their effects on
the ocean’s ability to provide ecosystem services and to support human
well-being. Its results will be published in a simple, dramatic,
accessible format, maximizing their utility to the public, ocean
managers and stakeholders; and energizing transformative change in
attitudes and behaviour regarding ocean use and conservation. Trends in
the value of OHI and its indicators will stimulate deliberate,
performance-based ocean improvement by helping managers and the public
to (1) identify unfavorable ocean trends, (2) select the most strategic
goals and actions to reverse them, and (3) evaluate the success of
remedial actions through data-driven outcomes assessment. The OHI will
thus play a focal role in efforts to re-build the ocean’s ability to
support abundant populations, rich biodiversity, robust ecosystem
services and improved human well-being.
--
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Benjamin S. Halpern
Associate Research Biologist
Project Coordinator, Ecosystem-based management of coastal-marine systems
Nat'l. Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis
735 State St.
Santa Barbara, CA 93101
phone: 805.892.2531
fax: 805.892.2510
halp...@nceas.ucsb.edu
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