Research Associate I or II

Mississippi State University; Starkville, Northern (MS, KY); Hybrid; USD 60,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

Mississippi State University’s Geosystems Research Institute invites applications for a Research Associate I or II to support NOAA-funded drought assessment work across the southeastern United States. You will join an interdisciplinary team performing hydrologic, meteorological, statistical, and geospatial analyses.

Responsibilities include building reproducible workflows in Python and R, processing large environmental datasets, applying drought indices, and preparing maps and reports for

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in a relevant field required; combination of education and experience considered.
• Master's degree preferred for advanced roles and research emphasis.
• Experience with geospatial and statistical analysis is highly valued.
• Ability to develop reproducible workflows using Python/R and GIS tools.

Responsibilities

• Acquire, organize, and quality-control hydrologic, meteorological, and geospatial datasets.
• Develop reproducible workflows for large datasets processing.
• Support drought and hydroclimate analyses (SSI, SPI, SPEI, etc.).
• Perform time-series analyses to identify non-stationarity and trends.
• Contribute to reports, publications, and project deliverables.
• Collaborate with multidisciplinary team and communicate results.

Skills

Python

R

Geospatial analysis

Statistics

Time-series analysis

Data management

Reproducible workflows

Scientific computing

Education

Bachelor's degree in Statistics or related field

Master's degree preferred

Tools

ArcGIS Pro

QGIS

Python packages (NumPy/SciPy)

R

Job description

Position Function:

The Geosystems Research Institute (GRI) at Mississippi State University (MSU) is seeking a highly motivated and self-driven Research Associate I or II to support a NOAA-funded research project focused on drought assessment, non-stationarity, and regionalization across the southeastern United States.

The successful candidate will work as part of an interdisciplinary research team conducting hydrologic, meteorological, statistical, and geospatial analyses. The Research Associate will be involved in all stages of formal project analysis and regionalization efforts, including data acquisition and preparation, drought characterization, time-series analysis, statistical modeling, geospatial analysis, regional classification, interpretation of results, and preparation of research products.
Candidates may have primary expertise in either quantitative/statistical analysis or geospatial/scientific data analysis. Applicants with experience spanning both areas are particularly encouraged to apply.
The position will involve working with large environmental datasets and developing reproducible analytical workflows using Python, R, GIS, and related scientific computing tools. The Research Associate will collaborate closely with project investigators and other team members and will contribute to technical reports, scientific publications, presentations, data products, and other project deliverables

Salary Grade:13

Please see Staff Compensation Structure or Skilled Crafts and Service Maintenance Compensation Schedule for salary ranges. For salary grade UC, these positions are "Unclassified" and salary ranges are determined by the hiring department.

Department Profile:

Established in 2000, the Geosystems Research Institute is a collaborative of academic scientists, engineers, and government and industry stakeholders active in conducting research to advance knowledge and practice in earth and it’s systems to improve policy and public awareness. The Geosystems Research Institute's approach to research provides an avenue for Mississippi State University to build strong relationships with local, regional, and national agencies and businesses to do work aimed at solving some of today's most pressing environmental issues. In helping carry out Mississippi State University's mission of service and outreach, the Geosystems Research Institute offers a variety of educational opportunities and services to assist researchers, state and federal entities, and the public in utilizing geospatial technologies and data.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

• Acquire, organize, quality-control, process, and manage hydrologic, meteorological, climatic, and geospatial datasets.
• Develop and maintain reproducible workflows for processing and analyzing large scientific datasets.
• Support hydrologic drought analysis, including drought-event delineation, drought magnitude and frequency characterization, and calculation and evaluation of the Standardized Streamflow Index (SSI).
• Support meteorological drought analysis, including calculation and evaluation of the Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) and Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI).
• Conduct or support statistical and time-series analyses used to characterize short- and long-term variability and identify non-stationarity in hydroclimatic records.
• Assist with analysis of trends, change points, changes in variability, temporal persistence, and other characteristics of environmental time series.
• Support development, application, and evaluation of statistical models used for stationary and non-stationary drought assessment.
• Conduct or support cross-correlation and related analyses to evaluate temporal relationships between meteorological and hydrological drought conditions.
• Compile and integrate hydrologic, meteorological, statistical, and spatial analysis results for regional drought assessment.
• Conduct clustering, classification, and spatial analyses used to identify regions with similar drought characteristics.
• Incorporate relevant environmental and geographic variables into regionalization analyses.
• Support analysis and assimilation of drought and non-stationarity indicators used in regional aridification assessment.
• Process and analyze raster, vector, tabular, and time-series datasets using Python, R, GIS, or related analytical software.
• Utilize high-performance computing resources when appropriate for large-scale or computationally intensive analyses.
• Prepare maps, figures, statistical summaries, tables, datasets, and other scientific products for reports, presentations, publications, and project applications.
• Maintain clear documentation of analytical methods, data-processing procedures, scripts, workflows, and research products.
• Assist with interpretation and quality control of research results.
• Contribute to technical reports, scientific manuscripts, conference presentations, and other project deliverables.
• Participate in project meetings and communicate analytical progress, findings, technical issues, and recommendations to project personnel.
• Work collaboratively in a multidisciplinary research environment.
• Perform other job-related duties as assigned.

Minimum Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in Statistics, Data Science, Geography, Geographic Information Systems, Hydrology, Water Resources, Meteorology, Climatology, Earth Science, Environmental Science, Computer Science, Applied Mathematics, or a closely related field. Rank and salary will be commensurate with the individual's background, education, experience, and demonstrated competence.
• Research Associate I: A professional employee with a bachelor's degree in a relevant discipline and demonstrated competence can begin work at the Research Associate I level.
• Research Associate II: To begin at the Research Associate II level, applicant must meet one of the following:
  • Master's degree in a relevant discipline, a minimum of one year of relevant experience, and demonstrated competence; or
  • Bachelor's degree in a relevant discipline and a minimum of three years of relevant experience with qualifications equivalent to the master's-degree level.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Master's degree in Statistics, Data Science, Geography/GIS, Hydrology, Water Resources, Meteorology, Climatology, Earth or Environmental Science, Computer Science, Applied Mathematics, or a closely related discipline.
• Experience with both statistical analysis and geospatial analysis.
• Experience working with hydrologic, meteorological, climatological, or other environmental datasets.
• Experience with drought, low-flow conditions, hydroclimatic extremes, climate variability, or related environmental research.
• Experience calculating or evaluating drought indices such as SSI, SPI, SPEI, or comparable environmental indices.
• Experience with statistical or distributional modeling of environmental data.
• Experience with generalized additive models, GAMLSS, or related statistical modeling frameworks.
• Experience with time-series decomposition, trend analysis, change-point detection, autocorrelation, cross-correlation, or long-term persistence analysis.
• Experience with clustering, classification, or multivariate analysis, including fuzzy clustering.
• Proficiency with ArcGIS Pro, QGIS, or comparable GIS software.
• Experience preparing, managing, and analyzing raster and vector geospatial datasets.
• Experience integrating statistical results with geographic or environmental variables.
• Experience using publicly available hydrologic or climate datasets such as USGS streamflow records, National Water Model products, PRISM, Daymet, CONUS404, or comparable datasets.
• Experience developing scientific data visualizations, maps, figures, and technical documentation.
• Experience contributing to scientific publications, technical reports, or conference presentations.
• Demonstrated ability to work effectively as part of a multidisciplinary research team.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:

• Demonstrated ability to organize, process, analyze, and interpret quantitative scientific data.
• Proficiency with Python, R, or another scientific programming or scripting language.
• Experience in at least one of the following areas:
  • statistical analysis, time-series analysis, quantitative modeling, or data science; or
  • GIS, spatial analysis, geospatial data processing, or management of large environmental datasets.
• Ability to develop, document, and maintain reproducible analytical workflows.
• Strong quantitative, analytical, and problem-solving skills.
• Knowledge of data quality assurance and quality-control principles.
• Ability to work with complex datasets and maintain strong attention to detail.
• Ability to learn and apply new statistical, computational, and geospatial methods.
• Effective written and verbal communication skills for technical and scientific audiences.
• Ability to communicate research results through figures, maps, tables, reports, and presentations.
• Ability to work independently while contributing effectively within a multidisciplinary research team.
• Ability to manage multiple analytical tasks and respond to changing project priorities.

Working Conditions and Physical Effort

Work is primarily conducted in an office and computational research environment and requires extensive use of computers and scientific software.
Job frequently requires sitting, reaching, talking, hearing, and handling objects with hands. Vision requirements include the ability to see information in print and/or electronically.
The position requires the ability to work independently for extended periods on computer-based analytical tasks and to participate in virtual and in-person project meetings.

Restricted Clause:

Position is contingent upon continued availability of funding.

Equal Employment Opportunity Statement:

Mississippi State University is an equal opportunity institution. Discrimination is prohibited in university employment, programs or activities based on race, color, ethnicity, sex, pregnancy, religion, national origin, disability, age, sexual orientation, genetic information, status as a U.S. veteran, or any other status to the extent protected by applicable law. Questions about equal opportunity programs or compliance should be directed to the Office of Civil Rights Compliance, 231 Famous Maroon Band Street, P.O. 6044, Mississippi State, MS 39762, [phone].

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