Postdoc Anatomy and Physiology of Plant Drought Tolerance – Fort Collins, CO

Full job description: https://jobs.colostate.edu/postings/140512 
Apply by date for full consideration: 3/18/2024
Salary Range: $60,000 – $65,000

Position Summary:
Founded in 1870, Colorado State University is among the nation’s leading research universities and enrolls approximately 32,000 undergraduate, graduate, and professional students. Located an hour north of the Denver metro area, Fort Collins is a vibrant community of approximately 157,000 residents that offers the convenience of a small town with all the amenities of a large city. Fort Collins is situated on the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains with views of 14,000-foot peaks, and offers access to numerous cultural, recreational, and outdoor opportunities.

Housed within the Warner College of Natural Resources, the Department of Forest and Rangeland Stewardship at Colorado State University is an interdisciplinary academic program uniquely poised to advance education, research, and outreach in vegetation measurements and forest biometry. The existing programs in the department include forest ecology, forest economics and management, forest fire science, rangeland ecology and management, resource policy and planning, and geospatial sciences. The Warner College of Natural Resources is home to five academic departments and several centers and institutes such as the Colorado Forest Restoration Institute, the WESTFIRE Research Center, the Colorado State Forest Service, Natural Resource Ecology Lab, Center for Environmental Management of Military Lands, and the Colorado Natural Heritage Program. These programs, institutes and centers provide a foundation for research, education, and outreach in this field. Linkages across departments and colleges, and with federal and state land managers and research centers, form a broader interdisciplinary foundation for increased impact.

The plant ecophysiology lab at Colorado State University is seeking applications for a 2-year postdoc investigating the response to- and recovery of plants from severe, seasonal droughts. This position will focus on greenhouse/growth chamber experiments but is part of a larger project that includes a field component. The goal of the overall project is to understand and predict the impact of the timing of droughts on productivity of grassland ecosystems. The responsibility of the post-doc will be to carry out greenhouse experiments to provide mechanistic explanations for the patterns we observe in the field components. We expect that this work may include measurements of photosynthesis, plant water-use, plant water content/water potential, embolism formation, hydraulic conductance, and plant anatomy. The post-doc will help finalize the measurements and overall project design of the greenhouse work. The successful applicant will be based at Colorado State University but will be required to collaborate closely with researchers at the USDA-Forest Service and USGS in South Dakota. The candidate will be expected to make several trips to South Dakota during the summer to help with ongoing field work. The postdoc will be expected to co-author manuscripts for scientific journals, write progress reports, assist with proposal writing, and train collaborators.

Required Qualifications:    

• PhD in plant biology, plant physiology, ecology, ecophysiology, or closely aligned field.
• Must have a valid driver’s license or the ability to obtain a driver’s license by the employment start date.
• The ability to travel to Buffalo Gap National Grasslands near Badlands National Park in SD for ~1/month during summer

Employee Benefits: 
Colorado State University (CSU) is committed to providing employees with a strong and competitive benefits package that supports you, your health, and your family. Visit CSU’s Human Resources website for detailed benefit plan information for permanent full-time and part-time faculty and administrative professional employees in the following University benefit areas: https://hr.colostate.edu/hr-community-and-supervisors/benefits/benefits-eligibility/  & https://hr.colostate.edu/prospective-employees/our-perks/. 

Colorado State University conducts background checks on all final candidates.

CSU is an EO/EA/AA employer.