Congratulations to Jimmy Phuong!

A big CONGRATULATIONS to Freshwater Initiative Student Steering Committee member Jimmy Phuong!

Jim received an Outstanding Student Presentation Award (OSPA) for his poster presentation at the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union (AGU) 2018. Jim’s work, titled “Geospatial information needs and use-cases for population health researchers in hurricane and flood preparedness scenarios,” was presented as part of AGU’s GeoHealth section, which was in its first year.  The award is given to the top 5% of all participants.

Jim’s research interests include environmental health under natural disaster scenarios. Working with collaborators in hydrology, he aims to integrate knowledge about hydrology within humanitarian efforts and population health improvements. He’s also known the “Github Guru” around the Freshwater Initiative.

Take a closer look at Jim’s abstract or poster for more information about his research.

Register Now! Science Talk ’19

Early bird gets the worm! Register today for Science Talk 2019!

Science Talk is a non-profit organization that seeks to empower and inspire the science communication community to expand their communication potential and effect the world. Through our annual conference and other activities, we promote responsible practices in science communication, facilitate discussion and exchange of ideas, enable networking, and foster public engagement.

They serve science communication practitioners, which are defined as anyone who engages in science communication and outreach, and science communication facilitators, defined as professional communicators who train others, convene groups, and otherwise make up the professional science communication community. The annual SCIENCE TALK conference has become the go-to annual conference for science communication practitioner and facilitator communities nationwide.

SCIENCE TALK ’19 will be held April 4-5, 2019 in Portland, OR. In 2019, community is key.

Early-bird registration open through February 15!

Registration Fee: $75 for students, $250 for professionals

Register Today!

Job Opportunity: Multiple Openings with Cloud to Street

Cloud to Street harnesses data available via satellites circling the Earth everyday to dynamically map floods and flood risk for new corners of the Earth.  They currently have multiple job openings:

1. Machine Learning Data Science Consultant
2. Radar Remote Sensing Scientist

For more information about these positions, please visit the Cloud to Street Careers webpage.

Job Opportunity: Beach Naturalists

The Environmental Science Center (ESC) seeks Beach Naturalists to lead small groups of student on the beach for their 2019 Beach Heroes Program.  

The Environmental Science Center (ESC) is a non-profit organization, offering quality, experiential environmental education programs at local beaches, streams, forested areas, and in classrooms throughout South King County. They are currently hiring Beach Naturalists for the spring 2019 Beach Heroes Programs, to take place at Seahurst Park in Burien, WA.

The Beach Heroes program introduces students to the local Puget Sound beach habitat and the organisms that live there.  During the 1-hour classroom visit, students will understand proper beach etiquette and stewardship while learning about marine invertebrates and their relationship to the beach habitat. The 2-hour field study features both naturalist-led beach exploration and structured activities, during which students will learn all about the habitat restoration of Seahurst Beach.

Responsibilities:

• Conduct 2-hour field study programs for students K-6 about common intertidal marine organisms, ecological importance of the nearshore habitat, and marine stewardship. ESC curriculum provided.
• Model appropriate stewardship behavior.
• Guide groups of 10-13 students during field study programs.

Qualifications:

• Experience teaching children and adults in outdoor or informal settings.

• Knowledge of the Puget Sound nearshore habitat including marine invertebrate and seaweed identification, tide zonation, and ecological relationships.
• Willingness to work outdoors in all weather conditions.
• Exceptional interpretive skills.
• Must have reliable transportation.
• Must be able to pass a Washington State background check.

Compensation: $17.00/hour – $19.00/hour DOE

Time Commitment: Part-time/seasonal, based on demand.

The ESC spring season starts in March and runs through June.  Field studies are typically scheduled Monday – Friday between 9:00am and 2:30pm. There may be special weekend projects that occur on occasion.  Beach naturalist time commitment per shift is approximately 2.5 hours. Attendance is required at the training session in March at Seahurst Park in Burien.

Supervisor: Joanna Stodden, ESC Program Manager.

Work Location: Seahurst Park (1600 SW Seahurst Drive, Burien, WA 98166)

How to Apply:  Please fill out naturalist application from our website envsciencecenter.org/about/jobs/ and send updated resume with subject line “Job Opening Beach Naturalist” via email to ESC’s Program Manager by emailing joanna@environmentalsciencecenter.org by Wednesday, February 13th. For more information, email or call (206) 248-4266.

Build Your Data Skills: Computing Fundamentals with Python

Software Carpentry aims to help researchers get their work done in less time and with less pain by teaching them basic research computing skills. This hands-on workshop will cover basic concepts and tools, including program design, version control, data management, and task automation. Participants will be encouraged to help one another and to apply what they have learned to their own research problems.

Who: The course is aimed at graduate students and other researchers. You don’t need to have any previous knowledge of the tools that will be presented at the workshop.

Where: 6th Floor, Physics/Astronomy Tower, University of Washington, Seattle, WA.

When: Feb 7-8, 2019, 9:00 am – 5:00 pm.

Requirements: Participants must bring a laptop with a Mac, Linux, or Windows operating system (not a tablet, Chromebook, etc.) that they have administrative privileges on. They should have a few specific software packages installed. They are also required to abide by Software Carpentry’s Code of Conduct.

Accessibility: We are committed to making this workshop accessible to everybody. The workshop organizers have checked that:

• The room is wheelchair / scooter accessible.
• Accessible restrooms are available.

Materials will be provided in advance of the workshop and large-print handouts are available if needed by notifying the organizers in advance. If we can help making learning easier for you (e.g. sign-language interpreters, lactation facilities) please get in touch (using contact details below) and we will attempt to provide them.

Contact: Please email arendta@uw.edu.

For more information, including a schedule of events, please visit the event website.

WaterHackWeek Cyberseminar Series

About the Series

Hosted by CUAHSI and University of Washington

Studies of water and environmental systems are becoming increasingly complex and require the integration of knowledge across multiple domains. At the same time, technological advances have enabled the collection of massive quantities of data for studying earth system changes. Fully leveraging these datasets and software tools requires fundamentally new approaches in the way researchers store, access and process data.

Waterhackweek, supported by the National Science Foundation Cybertraining program, serves the national interest by motivating a culture shift within the hydrologic and more broadly earth science communities toward open and reproducible software practices that will enhance interdisciplinary collaboration and increase capacity for addressing complex science challenges around the availability, risks and use of water.

This cyberseminar series consists of presentations from the Cybertraining investigators and research software developers, each focusing on a specific water-related use cases, tool, or library. Topics will consist of both introductory and advanced concepts that are relevant to a wide range of water and informatics use-cases, e.g. publishing large datasets, running numerical models, organizing collaborative research projects, and meeting journal requirements by following open data standards.

The goal of the 2019 series is to prepare the incoming Waterhackweek (March 25-29, 2019) participants for the in-person capstone event in which their skills and creativity will be used to address natural hazards; however, these topics and technologies are also relevant to the broader water science community. We welcome all undergraduate, graduate, and early career scientists to join us in this public cyberseminar series.

All talks take place on Thursdays at 1:00 p.m. ET.

Dates, Speakers, and Topics:

• January 17, 2019: Hydroshare and community data sharing tools | Daniella Tijerina, CUAHSI
• January 24, 2019: Jupyter notebooks and workflows on Hydroshare | Tony Castronova, CUAHSI
• January 31, 2019: Visualization of water datasets | Anthony Cannistra, University of Washington
• February 7, 2019: Data access and time-series statistics | Emilio Mayorga and Yifan Cheng, University of Washington
• February 14, 2019: Workflows for gridded climate datasets | Bart Nijssen and Diana Gergel, University of Washington
• February 21, 2019: Version control git/Github | Valentina Staneva, eScience Institute and University of Washington
• February 28, 2019: Landlab modeling framework and use cases | Erkan Istanbulluoglu, Christina Bandaragoda, Amanda Manaster, and Sai Siddhartha, University of Washington
• March 7, 2019: Tools for building Apps: Thethys | Rohit Khattar, Brigham Young University and Nathan Swain, Aquaveo

Abstracts for each seminar are available on the CUAHSI website.

Join Us!

Registration is free! You must register online for the series in order to attend. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the series.

Missed a cyberseminar? No problem! You can access video recordings of previous cyberseminars online.

Job Opportunity: NGRREC Aquatic Ecologist (Rivers)

The National Great Rivers Research and Education Center (NGRREC) invites applications for a river ecologist to join our dynamic team of researchers, educators and conservationists. This is a 12-month (full-time) research position, with small outreach and optional teaching responsibilities. The position comes with a competitive salary commensurate with experience and represents an excellent opportunity for an early to mid-career scientist to establish their own laboratory focused on high-impact research on the ecology of large rivers.

The successful candidate will develop a research program in the Upper Mississippi River Basin broadly focused on some aspect(s) of the ecology of rivers. Preference will be given to candidates whose research aligns with NGRREC’s mission, and compliments those of existing NGRREC scientists and their research programs. Research foci may include topics such as the population or community ecology of species (e.g., fish, mussels, macroinvertebrates) or the impacts of urban, agricultural, and/or industrial activity on river ecosystems; pollutants (e.g., pharmaceuticals, microplastics, heavy metals); climate change; or other human-based drivers.

To be considered, candidates must have a vigorous record of publication, a diverse collaborative network, evidence of outreach, and sustained success in attracting external funding. Early-career candidates should be able to demonstrate high potential in these activities. Evidence of an ability to engage stakeholders and teach field courses is highly desired.

NGRREC is located in Alton, IL at the confluence of the Mississippi, Missouri and Illinois rivers, approximately 30 minutes north of St Louis, MO. NGRREC scientists work closely with our education and conservation teams, with the explicit goal of producing high-quality science that can directly impact river management and policy. NGRREC scientists also work with colleagues at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the Illinois Natural History Survey, St. Louis University, Washington University in St. Louis, as well as other state, federal, and international agencies and foundations.

Candidates can apply online at Lewis and Clark Community College (posting number: 20110431) where they will be required to upload a Cover Letter, Curriculum Vitae, Research Statement (2 page max), Teaching Statement (1 page max), up to five representative publications, as well as the names and contact information of three professional references. References will be contacted for letters of support for suitable candidates, either before or after candidate interviews. Review of applications will begin on March 17, 2019 and the position will remain open until a successful candidate is found. NGRREC is an Equal Opportunity, Affirmative Action employer. Minorities, women, veterans and individuals with disabilities are encouraged to apply.

All inquiries should be directed to search committee chair Dr. Anthony Dell (adell@lc.edu).

AWRA Summer Conference: Accepting Abstracts!

The American Water Resources Association (AWRA) Summer Conference is now accepting abstracts:

Improving Water Infrastructure through Resilient Adaptation

June 16 – 19, 2019, Sparks, Nevada

Abstracts are sought for both oral and poster presentations and are due February 25, 2019.

There are five main topic categories:

• Water Infrastructure and Resilience
• Natural Hazards. Climate Risks and Adaptation
• Food-Energy-Water Nexus
• Water and Society
• Regional Themes

The call for abstracts can be found here:
https://awra2019summerconference.secure-platform.com:443/a

Contact Kensey Daly (kjdaly@uw.edu) for questions or more information.

Job Opportunity: Water Scientist, The Nature Conservancy, Portland, OR

The Nature Conservancy is hiring a Water Scientist in Portland, OR

Have you ever dreamed of developing water science solutions to conservation challenges in freshwater, forest, desert and coastal geographies?  Are you a stellar communicator who can seamlessly translate science findings to a broad range of stakeholders?  Do you aspire to advance creative conservation science that will influence policy and contribute to creating a world where people and nature thrive?  Our Water Scientist position could be the right career move for you!

As our Water Scientist, you develop and apply the scientific evidence base to guide The Nature Conservancy’s water related conservation strategies across Oregon.  You’ll work with multiple teams of conservation practitioners and scientists, and provide technical and scientific leadership and support. In this role, you will be a leading voice for science within the Conservancy and with external partners and policy makers.

In case you’re not familiar, The Nature Conservancy is the leading conservation organization working to make a positive impact around the world in more than 72 countries, all 50 United States, and your neighborhood. Founded in 1951, the mission of The Nature Conservancy is to conserve the lands and waters on which all life depends. One of our core values is our commitment to diversity therefore we are committed to a globally diverse and culturally competent workforce. Visit www.nature.org/aboutus to learn more.

As a leader in Oregon’s conservation community, our team of scientists and problem solvers protects and restores the iconic landscapes and inspiring locations that define our great state. From working to reduce the severity of fires in our forests and designing our clean water future to developing innovative technologies with fisherman and ranchers that sustainably protect both nature and livelihoods, The Nature Conservancy is building a future where people and nature thrive together.

The ideal candidate will have a background and track record that includes:

• Master’s Degree in science related field and 2 years of experience or equivalent combination of education and experience.
• Experience managing staff, project, workloads and finances under deadlines.
• Experience synthesizing, interpreting and communicating scientific information.
• Record of serving as the primary author on peer reviewed publications in scientific journals.
• Experience working and communicating with a wide range of people.

Some desired knowledge, skills and experience that would be helpful:

• Multi-language skills and multi-cultural or cross-cultural experience appreciated.
• PhD in water science related field (e.g., aquatic ecology, hydrology, fisheries) preferred and 4 years of experience OR equivalent combination of education and experience.
• Commitment to practical solutions to conservation challenges for nature and people. Experience designing and conducting applied studies to inform immediate and long-term conservation actions.
• Knowledge and experience with Pacific Northwest water related conservation issues. Including knowledge of climate change impacts on freshwater and estuarine systems and understanding of the prior appropriation system of western water law, TMDL policy, salmon recovery, and other Oregon water policies and programs.

The preferred hiring range for this position is $69,000-$74,200/year.

Interested in finding out more?

Review the full description and application link here or visit www.nature.org/careers and enter job ID 47246 in the keywords search.

Applications must be submitted by 8:59PM PST on February 5, 2019 to be considered.

Post-Doctoral Opportunities at the University of Nevada, Reno

The University of Nevada’s Global Water Center: Solutions for Sustainability seeks dedicated and talented early-career, post-doctoral researchers to engage in projects that are collaborative and multi-institutional in nature. Three positions are currently available.

To apply, please send the following:

1. a cover letter (no more than 2 pages) articulating your qualifications for each position, a copy of peer-reviewed papers that are drafted, accepted, or in review, and contact information for references.
2. a CV

Applicants that have demonstrated the ability to publish in peer-reviewed journals and work in a collaborative setting will receive beneficial consideration.

Post-doctoral researcher positions require the completion of a PhD by the start date of the position. Applicants with more than 5 years from the date of receiving your PhD are not eligible to apply and will not be considered.

The salary rate for post-doctoral research positions is $47,500 per year.

Please submit application materials to Sudeep Chandra (sudeep@unr.edu). Positions are open until filled. Download the job descriptions as a PDF here.