The Virginia Tech Occoquan Watershed Monitoring Laboratory in Manassas Virginia seeks a highly motivated and collaborative researcher with expertise in the “science of team science” and/or “transdisciplinary research.” The postdoctoral associate will contribute to the study of convergence research processes and outcomes on a National Science Foundation Growing Convergence Research (NSF-GCR) project on inland freshwater salinization. With the Occoquan Reservoir in Northern Virginia as its test bed, this NSF GCR project aims to understand the various sources of freshwater salinization and catalyze stakeholder-driven management strategies to address freshwater salinization. The project brings together faculty and students from four universities and nearly 40 stakeholders representing a broad range of societal sectors, perspectives, and expertise in freshwater salinization (https://salt.cee.vt.edu/).

This position is an initial two-year postdoctoral appointment. The salary is $70,000 per year, with a start date of February 1, 2023. PhD must be awarded no more than two years prior to the effective date of appointment with a minimum of three years eligibility remaining.

The postdoctoral associate will be based in the Occoquan Watershed Monitoring Lab (OWML) in Manassas, VA during Year 1 and the Virginia Tech Research Center in Arlington, VA during Year 2. The postdoctoral associate will be expected to occasionally travel between the two locations (Manassas and Arlington, about 26 miles). Occasional travel for attending professional conferences is required.

With the guidance of their faculty mentor, the postdoctoral associate will work on the following research activities.
(1) Designing and implementing strategies and tools to facilitate knowledge integration.
(2) Planning and executing studies to evaluate the effectiveness of various convergence research approaches on team processes and outcomes.
(3) Evaluating the integrative and intellectual qualities of the products generated in this research.
(4) Presenting and publishing cutting-edge research on facilitating and evaluating convergence research.

With mentorship, the postdoctoral associate will lead the design of research, data collection and analysis, and manuscript writing on the aforementioned research topics. The postdoctoral associate will help support coordination and collaboration between institutions and researchers and facilitate team meetings to encourage cross-disciplinary communication. The postdoctoral associate will have the chance to mentor masters and PhD students, attend lab meetings, and participate in field data collection and in a two-week undergraduate hands-on field bootcamp. The postdoctoral associate will receive guidance and training in the preparation of manuscripts for scientific journals, presentations for conferences, and proposal writing.