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If a date is not listed above, review the Applicant Instructions below for more details.

Available Title(s):

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Position Details:

The Opportunity:

Washington State University Vancouver’s School of Biological Sciences within the College of Arts & Sciences invites you to apply for a full-time, year-round Agricultural Research Technologist 3 position. In this role, you will support research aimed at understanding and improving symbiotic nitrogen fixation between rhizobia bacteria and legume plants. Your background in rhizobia genetics or genomics, legume-microbe interactions, or experimental evolutionary ecology will be valuable to this work.

Under the direction of the Principal Investigator (PI), you will plan and conduct experiments, analyze results, and interpret findings related to the genetics, genomics, and agronomy of legume-rhizobium symbiosis. You will also collaborate on scientific manuscripts, support the development of new research studies, and oversee laboratory and greenhouse spaces used by graduate and undergraduate students.

You will use your microbiological skills to conduct axenic plant-microbe experiments in controlled environments and greenhouses. Your responsibilities will also include organizing and archiving research data, maintaining computational data and code on WSU’s Kamiak high-performance computing system, and assisting lab members with research protocols and data analysis.

Additional Information:

This is a full-time (100% FTE), permanent position. This position is overtime eligible.

Monthly Salary: $4,108 to $5,506 (Steps A- M) | Range 45 | Successful candidates are typically hired at the beginning of the salary range and receive scheduled salary increment increases in accordance with WAC 357-28.

In accordance with RCW 49.58.110, the above salary reflects the full salary range for this position. Individual placement within the range is based on the candidate’s current experience, education, skills, and abilities related to the position.

Benefits: WSU offers a comprehensive benefits package which includes paid sick and vacation leave; paid holidays; medical, dental, life and disability insurance package for employees and dependents; retirement; deferred compensation, optional supplemental retirement accounts; training and development; and employee tuition waiver. For additional information, please review the detailed Summary of Benefits offered by WSU for Classified staff and Total Compensation.

Required Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s Degree in the applied, biological, chemical, physical OR agri­cultural sciences AND two years of experience as an Agricultural Research Technologist 2; OR equivalent education/experience.
• Completed graduate degree in Plant Biology or Microbiology and demonstrated success with research on the genetics, genomics, and agronomy of legume-rhizobium symbiosis.
• Demonstrated experience with axenic isolation, culture, and cryopreservation of rhizobia bacteria, axenic inoculation of legume plants with rhizobia bacteria, axenic cultivation of legume-rhizobia symbioses, collection and analysis of microbial and plant phenotypic data,
• Demonstrated experience analyzing bacterial DNA sequence data and bacterial long-read genomic data, data analysis in various R packages, data archiving to cloud based repositories, analysis using a High Performance Computing Cluster
• Knowledge of experimental design
• Demonstrated ability to write manuscripts for publication in peer-reviewed scientific journals.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Peer-reviewed publications on rhizobia genomics, rhizobia genetics, and manipulative evolutionary ecology experiments involving legumes and rhizobia.
• Higher levels of graduate training are preferred.
  

Position Sponsorship Eligibility: Not eligible for work visa sponsorship

Area/College: College of Arts and Sciences
Department Name: School of Biological Sciences
Location: Vancouver Campus

Application Instructions: Applicants must upload the following required documents to their online application. Application materials should clearly communicate how the applicant meets all required qualifications and additional requirements.

1) Resume
2) Cover Letter

External candidates, upload all documents in the “Application Document” section of your application.
Current WSU Employees (internal candidates), before starting your Workday application, please use these instructions to update your education and experience in your worker profile in Workday. Internal candidates, upload all documents in the “Resume/Cover Letter” section of your application.

Documents may be submitted as one file or separate files. Applicants are encouraged to upload as a PDF, if possible.

Reference contact information will be requested later in the recruitment process through Workday.

Background Check: This position has been designated by the department to require a background check because it requires access to children or vulnerable adults as defined by RCW 74.34, engages in law enforcement, requires security clearance, interacts with WSU students in a counseling or advising capacity, has access to personal identifying and/or financial information, unsupervised access to university buildings/property, or other business-related need. A background check will not be completed until an initial determination of qualification for employment has been made.

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Washington State University encourages all qualified candidates to apply, including members of the military and veterans, and persons with disabilities.

WSU employs only U.S. citizens and lawfully authorized non-U.S. citizens. All new employees must show employment eligibility verification as required by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

WSU is committed to providing access and reasonable accommodation in its services, programs, activities, education and employment for individuals with disabilities. To request disability accommodation in the application process, contact Human Resource Services: 509-335-4521 (v), Washington State TDD Relay Service: Voice Callers: 1-800-833-6384; TDD Callers: 1-800-833-6388, 509-335-1259(f), or hrs@wsu.edu.

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In matters of admission, employment, housing or services, or in the educational programs or activities it operates, WSU does not discriminate or permit discrimination by any member of its community against any individual on the basis of sex, race, color, national or ethnic origin, physical disability, mental disability, sensory disability, use of a trained service animal, age, religion, creed, genetic information, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, protected veteran status, honorably discharged veteran, member of the military, or immigration or citizenship status except as authorized by federal or state law, regulation, or government contract.

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More information, resources, and contact information are available here: https://ccr.wsu.edu/notice-of-nondiscrimination/