Remote Decision Support Scientist: Drought Outlooks

University of Minnesota; Saint Paul (MN); Remote; USD 30,000 - 47,000; Part time

Job summary

The University of Minnesota’s Institute on the Environment (IonE) Knowledge Initiatives team invites a part-time Decision Support Researcher to advance decision support science through mixed-methods research on probabilistic drought outlooks.

This project emphasizes visual communication, stakeholder engagement, IRB readiness, and cross‑team collaboration, with modest hours and a firm end date of March 31, 2027.

Qualifications

• Master's degree and 2 years of related experience or BS/BA and 4 years of related experience.
• Experience in interdisciplinary sustainability research and social science research methodologies such as interview and survey design.
• Experience in one of the technical areas under consideration: probabilistic drought outlooks; science communication; decision support diagnosis, user engagement, and testing; stakeholder engagement and analysis; risk and

Responsibilities

• Design, conduct, and analyze mixed-methods data using multidisciplinary social science methods.
• Lead research design, data collection, management, and analysis.
• Prepare IRB documentation and conduct literature reviews.
• Develop and carry out survey research; qualitative and quantitative analysis.
• Coordinate research activities, communicate with team, mentor IonE fellows.
• Coordinate research projects and manage documentation and workflows.
• Adopt IonE research software and metadata best practices.
• Organize work in Basecamp, Google Suite, and team file structure.

Skills

Interdisciplinary sustainability

Social science research methods

Interview design

Survey design

Education

Master's degree

Bachelor's degree

Job description

The University of Minnesota’s Institute on the Environment (IonE) Knowledge Initiatives team invites a part-time Decision Support Researcher to advance decision support science through mixed-methods research on probabilistic drought outlooks.

This project emphasizes visual communication, stakeholder engagement, IRB readiness, and cross‑team collaboration, with modest hours and a firm end date of March 31, 2027.