Mendenhall Research Fellowship Program
The USGS Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center (UMESC) in La Crosse, Wisconsin is hiring a Research Economist/Research Ecologist as part of the Mendenhall Research Fellowship Program – “Integration of economics and climate adaptation to support natural resource management.”
The Mendenhall Research Fellowship Program provides an opportunity for postdoctoral fellows to conduct concentrated research in association with USGS scientists, often as a final element to their formal career preparation. The selected Mendenhall Fellow will develop a framework for integrating economic approaches into ongoing research on climate vulnerability and adaptation in the context of natural resource management in cooperation with Research Advisors and their interagency research teams. Potential original research topics include developing an economic framework that builds upon existing climate vulnerability tools; developing new methods to integrate economics into climate change vulnerability assessments to support natural resource management; and developing local and watershed trade-off analyses of climate adaptation actions simultaneously evaluating multiple ecosystem services. The Fellow will be able to participate in stakeholder workshops focused on identifying climate vulnerabilities, natural resource science needs, and barriers to climate adaptation. By leveraging these resources and existing networks, the Fellow will bring innovative economic analysis to several timely management challenges. Research products could take the form of a decision-support tool or interactive graphical dashboard and peer-reviewed manuscripts are an expected product. Ideally, the Fellow would have a background in natural resource economics, quantitative skills, and a good understanding of ecological systems.
The Fellow will have the opportunity to work with Research Advisors and other interdisciplinary research teams at UMESC. UMESC staff work with natural resource managers on a wide range of natural resource challenges that could benefit from economic applications. Beyond climate impacts and adaptation research, focal research areas at our Center include wildlife ecology, ecosystem restoration, river and landscape ecology, toxicology, and invasive species management. Dependent upon the Fellow’s career goals and research interests, Research Advisors will facilitate networking opportunities with other USGS Science Centers, including the Midwest Climate Adaptation Science Center, and local universities, and guide relevant training to expand the Postdoctoral researcher’s knowledge, skills, and abilities.
TO APPLY:
See Mendenhall Opportunity 20-4 for more information and a link to apply. Applications will be submitted through USAJobs here.
This vacancy is open until January 6, 2022.