POSITION STATEMENT Position Title: Postdoctoral Associate (Colorado State University, Department of Fish, Wildlife, & Conservation Biology)
Location: Fort Collins, Colorado Salary: $45,000 Start date: September 2016 Tour of Duty: Full-time, two-year initial term with possible extension depending on performance and project funding. The position is funded entirely from private donations to Save the Elephants to address critical elephant conservation issues. DUTIES The successful candidate will work in collaboration with Colorado State University (CSU) and Save the Elephants scientists on the analysis of wild African elephant GPS tracking data to develop insights on elephant movement and space use strategies in northern Kenya. These outputs will be applied to long term, landscape conservation efforts in the ecosystem, and the candidate will engage with stakeholders (government, non-government and private) to communicate outputs and develop conservation strategies in relation to emerging threats in the ecosystem. The PI (Dr. George Wittemyer) is the Chairman of the Scientific Board of Save the Elephants and working closely with a number of partner organization in northern Kenya on wildlife focused landscape conservation initiatives. The direction of this research position will be crafted to take advantage of the applicant’s expertise, the capabilities of the CSU and STE science team and existing STE movement datasets. Research directions include: 1. Applying modern approaches in movement ecology to investigate spatial strategies of elephants in relation to landscape features (protected area status, human footprint, resource distribution, ect.). 2. Identification of critical use areas, corridors, and avoided areas on the landscape. Application of this information to assess the effectiveness of and identify gaps in the current protected area network. 3. Relating elephant movements to proposed infrastructure development projects, and developing landscape planning outputs. 4. Engaging in design of real-time tracking applications, novel interpretation and/or visualization tools to enhance conservation actions and understand landscape use and movement behaviors REQUIRMENTS 1. Ph.D. degree in a pertinent biological, physical or computer science. 2. Demonstrated publication record. 3. Demonstrated competency in movement analyses, spatial statistical modeling and processing of large data sets. 4. Demonstrated proficiency with computer coding in scientific languages (e.g. Matlab, R) and/or programming languages (e.g. Python). 5. Demonstrated abilities in developing and application of GIS. 6. Demonstrated experience working in collaborative research settings Preferred Job Qualifications 1. Experience or education in ecological modeling. 2. Field experience in physical or biological sciences in Africa. 3. Experience engaging with land use planning boards. 4. Experience with web interface 5. Experiencing mentoring students and field technicians To apply, please visit http://jobs.colostate.edu/postings/32416. CSU is an EO/EA/AA employer and conducts background checks on all final candidates.
