Hi All,

I wanted to make everyone aware that a researcher I work with, Dr. John Eadie (Wildlife, Fish, and Conservation Biology Dept., University of California, Davis) is preparing to hire a postdoctoral researcher for the coming year that will involve quite a bit of work with an existing ABM written using MASON.

Specifically, the postdoc will be working with our team's ABM of waterfowl foraging in the Central Valley of California. SWAMP (Miller et al., 2014) incorporates GIS information on landscape use that we obtain from our partners at the USGS to model the foraging behavior of overwintering waterfowl (ducks, geese, and swans) in the wildlife refuges, rice fields, duck clubs, and other agricultural and conservation areas in the California portion of the Pacific Flyway. We are interested in sustainable population sizes under a variety of climate, public land-use policy, and private land-use decision-making scenarios. The results of this research not only produce publications for the researchers, but are highly likely to influence conservation policy both in California and throughout the United States.

Because the work will involve using, modifying, and extending a very large and complicated ABM written in Java, our primary requirement for this position is proficiency with Java programming. Our team can bring someone with a basic understanding of the natural sciences and ecology up to speed on the specific biological and ecological components of the research.

Requirements:
* Proficiency in Java programming
* Ph.D. complete
* Familiarity and experience with agent-based modeling
* An interest in conservation and ecology
* Willingness and ability to learn about waterfowl ecology and behavior

Desired:
* Experience with MASON (proficiency preferred)
* Background in biology (undergrad or grad work in bio, ecology, conservation/management, biopsych, neurobiopsych, animal behavior, etc.)
* Publication history as first author in agent-based modeling
* Strong background in statistics (R experience preferred)

We have not entirely completed drafting the job description with the stakeholders at this time, so there may be further requirements. However, we are willing to work with any candidate who meets the above-listed requirements for any shortfalls in the desired qualifications.

If you or someone you know are interested in and qualified for this position, please contact me directly at hzmiller [at] ucdavis [dot] edu.

Thank you,
Matt L. Miller