The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is seeking bright, innovative, results-driven recent graduates under the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). The NDAA is a highly competitive authority appointing recent college graduates into entry-level personnel for subsequent advancement to the journey-level in professional and administrative career fields.

Duties

As a Research Fish Biologist, you will perform the following duties: Undertaking research determining measures that may be used to meet the needs of the assigned program; identifies, defines, and refines specific problems for study and determines the most logical approach to be used - assigned areas of inquiry may be highly complex requiring coordination with higher level scientists. Applying ingenuity and originality to the adaptation of existing experimental techniques or develops novel research techniques or methodologies to carry out research work, such as management strategy evaluation and retrospective analyses to evaluate fisheries management issues within the context of structural uncertainties such as the impacts of climate change and the interactions between predators and forage species. Providing responsibility for all aspects and phases of the research work including: planning and conducting experiments; collecting, analyzing and interpreting data; drawing conclusions, making recommendations for future work required in the area; and, publishing technical reports of the findings.

Requirements

Qualifications

Qualification Requirements Qualification requirements in the vacancy announcements are based on the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) Qualification Standards Handbook, which contains federal qualification standards. This handbook is available on the Office of Personnel Management's website located at: https://www.opm.gov/policy. To qualify for the 0482 series: BASIC REQUIREMENTS: This position has a positive education requirement in addition to at least one year of Specialized Experience OR substitution of education for experience OR combination (if applicable) in order to be found minimally qualified. Transcripts must be submitted with your application package. You MUST meet the following requirements: DEGREE: Major study in biology, zoology, or biological oceanography that included at least 30 semester hours in biological and aquatic science and 15 semester hours in the physical and mathematical sciences. This course work must have included: - At least 15 semester hours of preparatory training in zoology beyond introductory biology or zoology in such courses as invertebrate zoology, comparative anatomy, histology, physiology, embryology, advanced vertebrate zoology, genetics, entomology, and parasitology; and - At least 6 semester hours of training applicable to fishery biology in such subjects as fishery biology, ichthyology, limnology, oceanography, algology, planktonology, marine or fresh water ecology, invertebrate ecology, principles of fishery population dynamics, or related course work in the field of fishery biology; and - At least 15 semester hours of training in any combination of two or more of the following: chemistry, physics, mathematics, or statistics. SPECIALIZED EXPERIENCE: Applicants must possess one year of specialized experience equivalent in difficulty and responsibility to the next lower grade level in the Federal Service. Specialized experience is experience that has equipped the applicant with the particular competencies/knowledge, skills and abilities to successfully perform the duties of the position. This experience need not have been in the federal government. Experience refers to paid and unpaid experience, including volunteer work done through National Service programs (e.g., Peace Corps, AmeriCorps) and other organizations e.g., professional; philanthropic, religious; spiritual; community, student, social). Volunteer work helps build critical competencies; knowledge, and skills and can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience. To qualify at the ZP-3 or GS-11: SPECIALIZED EXPERIENCE: In addition to meeting the Basic Requirements above, applicants must also possess one full year (52 weeks) of specialized experience equivalent to the ZP-2 or GS-09 in the Federal service. Specialized experience MUST include all of the following: - Using common programming languages such as, R or Python, to analyze ecological data with statistical models - Fitting population or ecosystem-dynamics models to multiple data sets (e.g. acoustic biomass estimates and length-frequency distributions) simultaneously - Collecting data to observe changes in populations or ecosystems -OR- SUBSTITUTION OF EDUCATION: Master's or equivalent graduate degree related to fish biology. -OR- COMBINATION OF EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE: A combination of education and experience as described above. Note: Only graduate education in excess of one year is qualifying for combination.

Education

This position requires proof of higher education, you must submit an unofficial transcript or a letter from your college or university with your graduation date.

Education completed in foreign colleges or universities: Must be evaluated in terms of equivalency to that acquired in U.S. colleges and universities. Applicants educated in whole or in part in foreign countries must submit sufficient evidence, including transcripts, to an accredited private organization for an equivalency evaluation of course work and degree. A listing of these accredited organizations can be found on the Department of Education's website. You must provide a copy of the letter containing the results of the equivalency evaluation with a course by course listing along with your application. Failure to provide such documentation by the closing date of the announcement will result in lost consideration.

College Transcript: Applicants must submit a copy of their college transcript that lists college courses, course title, and number of credit hours. If you have a future graduation date, you must provide a letter from the school registrars' office that includes the name of the student/applicant, the name of the school, and verification of your anticipated graduation date. The transcripts or letter must indicate that the degree has been conferred. You may submit an unofficial copy of the transcript at the initial phase of the application process, but an official certified copy must be received before you can report to duty.

Qualifying Education Institution: Any of the following educational institutions or curricula that have been accredited by an accrediting body recognized by the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Education: http://ope.ed.gov/accreditation/

Contacts

• Address NOAA Office of Human Capital Services (OHCS) 1315 East West Hwy SSMC4 Silver Spring, MD 20910 US
• Name: Julia Schroeder
• Email: [email protected]