Professional Support Staff

Job Description

Job Description

Position: Soil Health Research Specialist

This is a full-time (benefit eligible), grant-funded research specialist position (with the possibility of renewal up to 3-years based on performance and funding availability) to assist the PI (principal investigator) in coordinating and facilitating activities related to several grant-funded projects within the LU's Soil Health Research Lab. Other duties include (but are not limited to) supervision, training, and mentoring of hourly undergraduate students in research, lab, and fieldwork protocols; contribute to data collection and entry from various ongoing experiments and help with preparing data tablets, graphs, and statistical analysis and interpretation into peer-reviewed publications.

Essential Job Functions:

• Coordinate and facilitate activities related to several grant-funded research projects.
• Train and mentor hourly undergraduate students in research, lab, and fieldwork protocols.
• Contribute to data collection and entry from various ongoing experiments and help with preparing data tables.
• Other duties as assigned by the supervisor.

Qualifications:

• Master's degree and above in Agronomy/Soil Science, or a closely related discipline is required.
• Must have a valid driver's license or the ability to obtain a driver's license.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Professional experience in soil health research with a notable skill to transform scientific data into peer-reviewed publications.
• Self-starter who completes projects and works to meet job objectives with minimum supervision.
• Knowledge and ability to operate farm machinery (tractors, flail, mowers, etc.)

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:

• Familiarity with the current state of soil health science and related analytical tools including the ability to learn emerging tools such as multi-omics.
• Must have excellent organizational and communication skills.
• Proficiency in multivariate statistical techniques such as Structural Equation Modeling (SEM), as well as others including SAS and R, with demonstrated skill in using them for preparation of scientific manuscripts.
• Ability to work in a team-oriented environment with a diverse group is required.
• Ability and desire to conduct lab, greenhouse and fieldwork in all weather conditions.

Physical Demands:

• Ability to work in an office, lab, field, and greenhouse environments for long hours.
• Ability to move items up to 25 lbs.

Disclaimer

This job description is not intended to be a complete list of all responsibilities, duties, or skills required for the role and may be modified at any time based on organizational needs. Additional responsibilities may be assigned as necessary.

This job description is not intended to be a complete list of all responsibilities, duties, or skills required for the job and is subject to review and change at any time, with or without notice, in accordance with the needs of Lincoln University. Since no job description can detail all the duties and responsibilities that may be required from time to time in the performance of a job, duties and responsibilities that may be inherent in a job, reasonably required for its performance, or required due to the changing nature of the job shall also be considered part of the jobholder's responsibility.