Research Associate I, II, III, Or Senior w/ Northern Gulf Institute & Mississippi State University

Research Associate I, II, III, Or Senior
https://explore.msujobs.msstate.edu/en-us/job/499960/research-associate-i-ii-iii-or-senior
 
Mississippi State University & Northern Gulf Institute

Position Function:
Provide scientific data management support for deep sea coral research with NOAA and its partners. The primary role of this position is the stewardship and archival of data and other information products coming from deep sea coral cruises and projects, to include the development and continued improvement of techniques and workflows for data stewardship. A marine scientist or marine biologist with data management and analysis experience is required to complete this work.
The position will be located at the Mississippi State University Science and Technology Center at the Stennis Space Center, MS. There is potential for occasional time at sea aboard research or exploration vessels. Salary commensurate with abilities and experience.

Salary Grade:  13
Please see Staff Compensation Structure or Skilled Crafts and Service Maintenance Compensation Schedule for salary ranges.  For salary grade UC, these positions are “Unclassified” and salary ranges are determined by the hiring department.

Department Profile:
The Research Associate will be affiliated with the Northern Gulf Institute, a NOAA Cooperative Institute.
The work done will support the mission of the NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI). For more information on the Northern Gulf Institute and partnerships with NOAA see https://www.northerngulfinstitute.org

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

• Perform data stewardship activities, including metadata generation, standardization, quality control, and archival for deep sea corals, sponges, and ancillary data.
• Identify, coordinate, and correspond with data contributors to define data acquisitions and to determine suitability for contribution to the long term environmental data record within NCEI.
• Analyze and continue to develop the NOAA National Database for Deep Sea Corals and Sponges – a working collection of documented coral and sponge occurrence records, together with ancillary information on data provenance, quality, and related environmental observations.
• Integrate and harmonize project-level data workflows with existing higher-level NOAA NCEI processes and systems for data management resulting in a fully archived data collection
• Research, design, and develop a data/information tracking system that allows DSCRTP staff to inventory and track program generated data from collection to long term preservation.
• Develop and provide innovative enhancements to the DSCRTP Web portal that provides access to the Web map, related Program datasets including photographic imagery and descriptive information on Program-funded activities.

​Minimum Qualifications

• US Citizen or Permanent Residency.
• Ability to receive Department of Commerce moderate risk clearance.
• B.S. or M.S. in Computer Science, Physical Sciences, Marine Sciences or related field.
• Beginning with a Bachelors degree: A professional (support/service) employee with a bachelors can begin work at Associate I; To begin at Associate II, one must meet the above requirements, have a minimum of 3 years of relevant experience and the equivalent to a masters degree; To begin at Associate III, one must meet the above requirements, have a minimum of 6 years of relevant experience and the equivalent to a masters degree.
• Beginning with a Masters degree: A professional (support/service) employee with a masters degree and a minimum of 1 year of relevant experience and demonstrated competency can begin work at Associate II; To begin at Associate III, one must have a masters degree and a minimum of 3 years of experience; To begin at Senior Associate, one must have a masters degree and a minimum of 6 years of experience.
• Beginning with a Doctoral degree: A professional (support/service) employee with a doctorate degree with 2 years of relevant experience and demonstrated competence can begin work at Associate III; To begin at the Senior Associate, one must have a doctorate degree and a minimum of 3 years of relevant experience.

Preferred Qualifications:
Existing Department of Commerce moderate risk clearance.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:

• Demonstrated real-world understanding and experience in creating standards-compliant metadata and archiving scientific data.
• Demonstrated understanding and experience working with common data streams arising from research cruises and scientific projects.
• Formal training, and at least two years of experience, using ESRI ArcGIS for cartographic analysis, data transformation, and spatial analysis.
• Demonstrated experience with GIS publishing on collaborative web-based platforms, especially ArcGIS online.
• Formal training and at least two years of experience with scientific coding in R or Python for data transformation, reporting, and spatial analysis.
• Knowledge and experience with RMarkdown for data-driven reporting.
• Knowledge and experience with collaborative coding in GitHub or similar.
• Experience with Microsoft Excel.

Instructions for Applying:
Apply online by submitting a cover letter, resume, and a copy of your transcript(s). Any social security numbers included on the requested transcripts should be redacted prior to submitting online.
For additional information, contact Dr. Just Cebrian (jcebrian@ngi.msstate.edu)

Apply ASAP at:
https://explore.msujobs.msstate.edu/en-us/job/499960/research-associate-i-ii-iii-or-senior