[Coral-List] Postdoctoral Fellowship - Microbiome Influences on Coral Resilience to Climate Change (July 31 deadline)

Julia Baum juliakbaum at gmail.com
Fri Jul 27 09:36:14 EDT 2018


Hello,

Could you please post the following ad on coral list serve?  The deadline
is very soon (July 31) and I requested it be posted twice already but
haven't seen it up yet.

Thank you!
Julia Baum

*Postdoctoral Fellowship: *

*Microbiome Influences on Coral Resilience to Climate Change *

*University of Victoria, Canada*



The Baum Lab at the University of Victoria (British Columbia, Canada) seeks
to recruit an outstanding, highly quantitative postdoctoral fellow
(PDF) to lead
research investigating how the relationships between corals and their
microbial partners (bacteria, *Symbiodinium*) vary with local and global
stressors, and the extent to which the microbiome influences coral
resilience to thermal stress.



*Research Context and Specific Focus: *Climate change poses an imminent
threat to the world’s coral reefs. The 2015-2017 mega El Niño unleashed
globally unprecedented heat stress on Kiritimati (Christmas) Island, a
large coral atoll in the central equatorial Pacific Ocean. With its strong
spatial gradient of local human disturbance, Kiritimati offers an excellent
platform for studying how local and global stressors interact. We tagged,
sampled and tracked >1,000 individual coral colonies from multiple species
over space (across Kiritimati’s local disturbance gradient) and time
(before, during and after the El Niño event) to characterize
coral-associated microbial communities. The post-doctoral fellow will
conduct bioinformatics and statistical analyses to synthesize our
longitudinal next-generation sequencing (16S and ITS2) data set from these
coral samples to investigate: 1) how coral-associated microbial communities
vary with local disturbance and with multiple stressors (local disturbance
and heat stress), and the influence of microbial communities on resilience
to thermal stress; 2) covariance between coral-associated microbial and
symbiont communities under single and multiple stressors. The fellow would
also have the opportunity to conduct fieldwork on Kiritimati in the summers
of 2019 and/or 2020. Together, these activities provide the opportunity to
address questions of fundamental importance to coral reef resilience under
climate change.



*Required Qualifications:*

§   A PhD in ecology, oceanography, mathematical biology, statistics, or
computer science;

§   Excellent publication record (Minimum of 8 peer-reviewed publications);

§   Considerable experience processing, manipulating, and modelling large
next-generation sequencing data set. Demonstrated proficiency with Unix, R
and/or Python, and with software tools for bioinformatics pipelines and
microbiome analyses;

§   Excellent technical, analytical, computer, organizational, and
problem-solving skills. Strong attention to detail, and meticulous work
style, as evidenced by previous research;

§   Experience working with microbial or *Symbiodinium *data sets and an
in-depth understanding of the related literature;

§   Excellent time management skills, including the ability to meet project
goals in a timely manner, and follow through on projects to completion;

§   Strong interpersonal and communication skills, the ability to work both
independently and collaboratively, and to communicate research findings at
professional meetings and in high quality peer-reviewed journals.



*Research Environment: *The postdoc will be based in Prof. Julia Baum’s lab
(https://baumlab.weebly.com; @BaumLab) in UVIC’s (https://www.uvic.ca/)
Department of Biology. The Baum lab is a supportive and stimulating
research environment, with a group of scientists who are committed to
scientific outreach and policy, to open science, and to enhancing diversity
in STEM. UVic is one of Canada’s top comprehensive universities (
https://www.macleans.ca/schools/university-of-victoria/), has a vibrant
ecology community (https://uvicecology.weebly.com/) and is located in
beautiful Victoria, on Vancouver Island, British Columbia. The PDF will
also work collaboratively with Prof. Rebecca Vega-Thurber (
http://vegathurberlab.oregonstate.edu), Dr. Ross Cunning (
http://www.rosscunning.com/) and Prof. Andrew Baker (
http://yyy.rsmas.miami.edu/groups/reef-futures/people.html).



*      See full ad details at: baumlab.weebly.com
<http://baumlab.weebly.com> *



*To apply: *Candidates should submit the following materials via email to
Dr. Baum (baum ‘at’ uvic.ca) in a single PDF document, with your last name
in the file name and the subject heading “Coral Microbiome PDF”:

§   a cover letter explaining your motivation for applying for this
position, how your prior research experience qualifies you for the
position, and your career goals;

§   a CV (including publication list and clear specification of relevant
quantitative skills; publication list may include publications in advanced
stages of preparation that will be in the review process by the above
postdoctoral fellowship deadline dates);

§   names and contact details for three references.

All qualified persons are encouraged to apply.



*Start date:* September 2018 – February 2019 (flexible); *Deadline to
Apply: *Extended to July 31st, 2018.


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