Job Opportunities

Texas A&M University, Department of Oceanography – Research Specialist 1; GIS Developer

The Gulf of Mexico Coastal Ocean Observing System (GCOOS) is the Gulf of Mexico regional component of the U.S. Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS) of NOAA and is part of the Department of Oceanography with Texas A&M University. At GCOOS we are looking for a highly motivated and skilled professional interested in contributing to understanding of the Gulf of Mexico with the development of geospatial data science tools. The Research Specialist I will support GCOOS in a ‘GIS Innovation Development’ role (title) and will work closely with the GCOOS Data Management and Cyberinfrastructure Team to conceive the enhancement of existing geo apps and development of new tools in support of solutions needed by the communities that we serve around the Gulf of Mexico. Our team manages data streams from a fleet of live ocean sensors in the Gulf of Mexico, in vessels, moorings, radars, animal tags, autonomous vessels and satellites.

• Salary: Commensurate based on the selected candidate’s education and experience.
• Location: This position may be eligible to work at an alternative work location.
• Details

Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission – OPS Geographic Information System Tech

The Center for Spatial Analysis (CSA) within FWRI provides Geographic Information Systems (GIS) expertise, research, products, and support to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and external partners. We are hiring a GIS specialist to join CSA’s Marine Spatial Ecology Research Team based in St. Petersburg, FL. The team examines the consequences of spatial heterogeneity on ecological processes and works across a wide range of techniques and projects. The GIS specialist will support the team by developing and contributing to spatially explicit databases, interactive ArcGIS Online applications and dashboards, machine learning applications, ecosystem models, species distribution models, scientific publications, and open-source data pipelines. The GIS specialist will have a strong technical background in GIS, cartography, data science, and quantitative methods; strong interpersonal skills including the ability to work independently, solve problems creatively, and communicate effectively; and the ability to provide public presentations, contribute to conference proceedings, and occasionally travel to work in the field and perform related physical activities. Field work may include supporting the team with digital assets in coastal and offshore areas to pursue mapping activities, the development of autonomous technologies, and other marine research projects. This position is funded by multi-year grants that require annual renewals.

• Details

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) – Research Social Scientist

NOAA seeks a Research Social Scientist to fill one vacancy in the following locations in the Marine Fisheries Services, Southeast Fisheries Science Center; Miami, FL, Panama City, FL, Pascagoula, MS and Beaufort, NC.

As a Research Social Scientist you will perform the following duties:

• Collaborate with a team of social scientists within the Southeast Fisheries Science Center (SEFSC) Social Science Research Group to develop comprehensive social, socioeconomic, and cultural analyses for ecosystem-based fisheries management in U.S. Southeast region fisheries.
• Research and examine the impacts of commercial and recreational fishery management regulations on coastal fishing communities. Contribute to ecosystem status reports, climate vulnerability assessments, and related decision-support materials. Coordinate and facilitate participatory research, qualitative modeling and scenario planning activities to support climate models and inform proposed management strategies.
• Support the incorporation of social science research findings into the Climate, Ecosystems, and Fisheries Initiative (CEFI) Decision Support tool, management strategy evaluations and stock assessments. Draft grant proposals to secure supplementary funding for research endeavors. Create a variety of basic materials to communicate research findings. Document and archive research methodologies and data to ensure replicability.
• Participate on regional and national working groups pertaining to CEFI, ecosystem-based fisheries management (EBFM), and other relevant topics. Contribute to the formulation of amendments to fishery management plans by providing analytical insights and data to support the evaluation of the social impacts of proposed management alternatives. Ensure that socio-economic sections of fishery management plan amendments adhere to the best available scientific standards.
• Details

 

Integrated  Systems Solutions – Program Analyst

As one of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)’s top contractors, ISS is seeking a Program Analyst. This role is fully remote.

What you will do:

• Cooperative Agreement Support (80%)
  • Duties with respect to this project area are anticipated to assist the IOOS Office’s work with cooperative agreements, including those related to awards associated with the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act, and will include:
    • Supporting the IOOS partnership and external coordination through the administration of cooperative agreements tasks such as:
      • Performing environmental analysis through the review of proposals, progress reports, and other cooperative agreement documents in support of the office’s environmental compliance and analysis activities related to funding actions.
      • Assisting with the tracking, organization of, and reporting on project progress to meet NOAA, DOC, and other federal requirements.
    • Supporting the IOOS Certification process.
  • Regional Coordination (20%)
    • Duties with respect to this project area are anticipated to assist the IOOS Office’s work coordinating with Regional Associations and will include:
      • Supporting the coordination efforts and relationships with the IOOS Regions, and other funded partners
      • Fostering stakeholder engagement and regional coordination activities.
      • Supporting IOOS leadership participation in meetings, such as Regional Association Annual meetings and the U.S. IOOS Advisory Committee meeting
      • Preparing presentation materials and responding to requests for information from DOC, NOAA and lOOS partners
• Details

Integrated Systems Solutions – Physical Scientist, Project Management

As one of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)’s top contractors, ISS is seeking a Physical Scientist, Project Management Support to support Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS) office. This role is fully remote.

What you will do: Provide project management oversight for various IOOS Data Management and Cyberinfrastructure (DMAC) products, which could include the IOOS’ virtual Data Assembly Centers (DACs) that house underwater profiling glider data, High Frequency Radar (surface currents) data, Marine Biodiversity Observation Network data and Animal Telemetry Network data. This position also involves project management support for projects focused on products on the IOOS.US website (e.g. IOOS Compliance Checker, IOOS Data Catalog). More specifically, this includes:

• Overall project management (25%)
  • Develop and/or maintain a robust project management process to ensure the projects listed above and their associated tasks are well-understood, meet user community needs, and to ensure projects remain on track and within budget.
• Task Management (25%)
  • Leverage existing IOOS-adopted tools for managing projects, especially existing GitHub repositories and Trello boards for task management.
  • Identify tasks to be worked on within a project year.
• Track project status (20%)
  • Engage project teams on a routine basis to receive updates on the project schedule and budget.
  • Report any issues to the program manager.
• Requirements management (15%)
  • Capture, document and track user community requirements, which should be the primary source for new work related to IOOS products.
• Coordination (15%)
  • Coordinate with IOOS Regional Associations, IOOS private industry partners (RPS, Axiom), and IOOS communications representatives on project updates. Build use cases and develop outreach materials.
• Details

HelloGov – Sr. Cloud and Data Engineer

We are seeking a Sr. Cloud & Data Engineer with a background in software engineering, cloud computing, and data science to support the Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS) office within National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Candidate must possess a Public Trust clearance.

• Perform software development for IOOS Data Management and Cyberinfrastructure (DMAC)-related open source software packages in Python (e.g. ioos_qc, compliance_checker, ioos_code_lab) and other programming/scripting languages (e.g. Java, JavaScript, UNIX shell). Apply knowledge of Python data and data science tools – the ‘Scientific Python’ suite of tools in particular – to data management challenges and the needs of the IOOS DMAC system and associated DMAC community (Regional Association (RA) data managers, commercial partners, and users/stakeholders of IOOS’ data). Serve in a maintainer role for selected IOOS and IOOS-affiliated open source software projects hosted on GitHub.
• Contribute to the design and development of data distribution systems for DMAC that leverage commercial cloud-based services. Advance the IOOS DMAC system’s ability to deliver ocean observation and forecast data to users efficiently and effectively using the cloud. Participate in the technical oversight of work performed by IOOS commercial partners on cloud-related projects.
• As a member of the IOOS DMAC team, translate stakeholder requirements into real-world technical solutions. Improve visualizations of IOOS’ oceanographic datasets using GIS or similar mapping or plotting tools, both for end users and in planning scenarios for observing system build out.
• Details

Board on Gulf Education and Engagement – Program Officer

University of Southern Mississippi – Associate Marine Instrumentation Specialist

The University of Southern Mississippi is currently accepting applications for the position of Associate Marine Instrumentation Specialist. The School of Ocean Science and Engineering is located at the NASA John C. Stennis Space Center, which is a “federal city” that boasts the world’s largest concentration of marine scientists. The successful candidate will be required to pass a NASA background security check as well as a USM employment background check. This position requires working at sea and some nights and weekends. This position will have the opportunity to assist the research team with ocean observing operation, maintenance, and calibration of the High Frequency Radar (HFR) systems, buoyancy glider fleet, meteorological/oceanographic buoys, and other ocean observing platforms.

• Details

Postdoctoral Positions

Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) – Postdoctoral Associate

Applications for the postdoctoral fellowship program at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) are currently being accepted! MBARI’s mission is to advance marine science and engineering to understand our changing ocean. Our work focuses on diverse areas of marine and engineering research—from atoms to ecosystems. MBARI is dedicated to the development of innovative instrumentation, systems, and methods supporting scientific research in the oceans. Teams of scientists and engineers are collaborating to build innovative tools to transform what we know about ocean processes and ocean health. Ongoing programs at MBARI span marine robotics, ocean physics, chemistry, geology, biology, and engineering. Postdoctoral Fellows conduct independent research in association with one or more mentors to advance their training and career development while bringing new perspectives and skills to collaborations within MBARI. Applicants should connect with potential research sponsors at MBARI, see list below, for guidance on project feasibility, relevance to ongoing research projects, resource availability, and expected start date. Offers will be made to selected candidates from the fields of biological, chemical and physical oceanography, marine geology, and engineering. Candidates must be awarded a Ph.D. degree prior to commencing the two-year appointment starting between 2023 and 2024 and complete the fellowship onsite.

• Details

Mississippi State University – Postdoctoral Associate

The principal function of the postdoc is to contribute to configuring a high-resolution ocean-biogeochemical model for the South Florida region, and use this model to simulate and analyze past and projected regional oceanographic patterns, with an especial focus in five marine ecosystem stressors: ocean acidification, hypoxia, harmful algal blooms (HABs), warming, and eutrophication. The outputs of the ocean-biogeochemical model will be used to characterize stressors impacts on relevant coastal species from the South Florida Shelf and Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary (FKNMS). The postdoc will be based at the NOAA’s Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory (AOML) in Miami, Florida. She/he will be part of a multidisciplinary team, which includes researchers at NOAA, Mississippi State University, University of Miami, University of South Florida, Virginia Institute of Marine Sciences, Fish and Wildlife Research Institute, and Southeast Coastal Ocean Observing Regional Association.

• Details

NOAA; National Centers for Coastal Ocean Sciences – Postdoctoral and Senior Associates

The National Ocean Service, Center for Coastal Fisheries and Habitat Research seeks a postdoctoral scientist in remote sensing photogrammetry of coastal and marine habitats using unoccupied autonomous systems. The program conducts research and syntheses to develop decision support tools, geospatial models, and data products to inform coastal ecosystem management. They use a suite of field sampling and remote-sensing tools, advanced underwater remote sensing and hydroacoustics technologies, underwater optics, autonomous underwater vehicles and scuba diving to design ecological assessments and experiments to understand impacts of stressors on coastal marine ecosystems. The primary focus for this opportunity will develop remote imaging techniques such as photogrammetry and structure-from-motion using airborne and underwater optics to develop high-resolution digital models for use in ecological research and modeling for the assessment of coral reef ecosystems and restoration.

• Details 

NRC Research Associateship Programs Postdoctoral and Senior Research Awards

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine sponsors awards for postdoctoral and senior researchers at participating federal laboratories and affiliated institutions.  These awards include generous stipends ranging from $45,000 – $80,000 per year for recent Ph.D. recipients, and higher for additional experience.  Limited graduate level awards are also available. These awards provide the opportunity for recipients to do independent research in some of the best-equipped and staffed laboratories in the U.S. Research opportunities are open to U.S. citizens, permanent residents, and for some of the laboratories, foreign nationals.

• Details

Fellowships and Internships

Susan L. Williams National Coral Reef Management Fellowship

The 2024 Susan L. Williams National Coral Reef Management Fellowship program is a partnership between Nova Southeastern University’s National Coral Reef Institute, NOAA’s Coral Reef Conservation Program, the U.S. Department of Interior Office of Insular Affairs, and the U.S. Coral Reef All Islands Committee. The program recruits Coral Reef Management Fellows for the seven U.S. coral reef jurisdictions (American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Florida, Guam, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands) to address current capacity gaps and to build longer-term capacity in these locations. This is done by placing highly qualified individuals whose education and work experience meet each jurisdiction’s specific coral reef management needs. The program’s goal is to develop a thriving collaborative fellowship program that builds excellent next-generation leaders and capacity for effective local coral reef ecosystem management.

• Details

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration – Coastal Management Fellowship

The NOAA Coastal Management Fellowship was established in 1996 to provide on-the-job education and training opportunities in coastal resource management and policy for postgraduate students and to provide project assistance to state coastal zone management programs. Up to nine fellows are placed with state coastal programs every year. The program matches postgraduate students to work on projects proposed by state coastal zone management programs and selected by NOAA. This two-year opportunity offers a competitive salary, medical benefits, and travel and relocation expense reimbursement. Placement for the Coastal Management Fellowship positions is fully integrated into the placement process with the Digital Coast Fellowship positions. Candidates apply to the Coastal Management and Digital Coast Fellowship program as a whole, and selected candidates will be eligible to interview with both the state coastal programs and the Digital Coast partnership organizations at the fellowship matching workshop.

• Details

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine

The Gulf Research Program’s Early-Career Research Fellowship supports emerging scientific leaders as they take risks on research ideas not yet tested, pursue unique collaborations, and build a network of colleagues who share their interest in improving offshore energy system safety and the well-being of coastal communities and ecosystems. Because the early years of a researcher’s career are a critical time, the relatively unrestricted funds and mentoring this fellowship provides help recipients navigate this period with independence, flexibility, and a built-in support network. They will be opening the 2021 Early-Career Research Fellowship Application Cycle with significant changes to the fellowship program structure by introducing a three-topic track system with application periods spread out over the year. The three tracks, aligned with the Gulf Research Program’s program areas, are:

• • • Human Health and Community Resilience
    • Environmental Protection and Stewardship
    • Offshore Energy Safety
    • Details

Department of Defense – Visualization of Coastal Data

The U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center’s Coastal & Hydraulics Laboratory (CHL) performs research on ocean, estuarine, riverine, and watershed systems in support of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) and the Department of Defense (DOD) Task Force in support of the Ocean Commission. A multi-disciplinary team of scientists, engineers, and support personnel work in CHL’s internationally known, unique facilities. This team has developed state-of-the-art experimental and computational models for solving water resource problems worldwide. Physical facilities of approximately 1.7 million square feet and high-performance computing facilities at the DOD Supercomputing Research Center (http://www.erdc.hpc.mil) are the basic infrastructure for producing cutting-edge products for successful coastal, inland water resources, and navigation management. CHL work, although primarily in support of the DOD and the Corp’s districts, also interfaces with other federal, state and local agencies, academia, conservation groups, and the general public, as appropriate. The Research Participation Program for USACE-ERDC-CHL provides opportunities to participate in new and on-going applied research and development projects. Research projects range from design guidance to three-dimensional computational models. Focus is placed on inland and coastal navigation, military logistics over the shore, dredging, flood control, storm and erosion protection, waterway restoration, fish passage, hydro-environmental modeling, water/land management, and other water and sediment-related issues facing the nation.

• Details

Department of Defense – Coastal Vulnerability Assessment Fellow

The Environmental Laboratory (EL) is one of the seven laboratories of U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (USACE-ERDC), which is the Army Corps of Engineers’ integrated research and development (R&D) organization. EL provides solutions to environmental challenges for the U.S. Army, the Department of Defense and the Nation through environmental science and engineering research and development. Researchers in EL conduct research in ecosystem science and technology, environmental resiliency, environmental sensing, ecological modeling and forecasting, risk and decision science, environmentally sustainable material, systems biology, climate change, computational chemistry, environmental chemistry and environmental security. Under the guidance of a mentor, you will participate in a coastal research project focused on developing stochastic assessments of coastal water levels and erosion risk under past, present and future climates.

• Details