This Research Economist/Geographer/Biological Scientist GS-12/13/14 supports the Northern Research Station's Forest Inventory and Analysis i-Tree Group, which is responsible for work that includes: Quantifying urban forest ecosystem structure and change; Quantifying urban forest ecosystem services and values; and developing tools to quantify environmental effects of urban forests and improve forest management. For more info about this position, contact Charles Perry at [email protected].

Duties

Designs, conducts, presents, and publishes research studies that address pertinent resource issues identified by FIA and i-Tree user’s groups, customers, and clientele Leads and coordinates team efforts to ensure successful program development, support, and dissemination Works with teams and other critical stakeholders and clients to ensure successful i-Tree development and support to meet the complex needs of forest managers and stakeholders Develops new science related to urban forest ecosystem services and develops and maintains the i-Tree software suite that integrates the science within easy-to-use management models Modifies existing or develops new methods to quantify urban forest structure and ecosystem services and tests the applicability of these new approaches in a range of urban areas Integrates the estimates of numerous ecosystem services within a modeling system (i-Tree) to help assess interactions among multiple services and forest structure and how changes in forest structure influence multiple forest services and values

Requirements

• Must be a U.S. Citizen or National.
• Males born after 12-31-59 must be registered for Selective Service or exempt.
• Subject to satisfactory adjudication of background investigation and/or fingerprint check.
• Completion of a three-year probationary period required in accordance with the USDA Demonstration Project Authority. During this time, employee's conduct and performance will be monitored to determine if employee will be retained.
• Per Public Law 104-134 all Federal employees are required to have federal payments made by direct deposit to their financial institution.
• Successfully pass the E-Verify employment verification check. To learn more about E-Verify, including your rights and responsibilities, visit E-Verify.

Qualifications

To qualify, you must meet the eligibility and qualifications requirements as defined below by the closing date of the announcement. For more information on the qualifications for this position, visit OPM's General Schedule Qualification Standards. SEE "ADDITIONAL INFORMATION" SECTION BELOW FOR MORE INFORMATION This is an interdisciplinary position and may be filled in any of the job series listed below Basic Requirement for Economist Series 0110. PLEASE REFER TO OPM WEBSITE FOR EXAMPLES OF QUALIFYING AND NON-QUALIFYING EXPERIENCE Degree: economics, that included at least 21 semester hours in economics and 3 semester hours in statistics, accounting, or calculus or Combination of education and experience: courses equivalent to a major in economics, as shown in A above, plus appropriate experience or additional education Examples of qualifying experience: individual economic research assignments requiring planning, information assembly, analysis and evaluation, conclusions and report preparation supervisory or project coordination assignments involving a staff of professional economists, and requiring the evaluation and interpretation of economic information; or teaching assignments in a college or university that included both class instruction in economics subjects and one of the following (1) personal research that produced evidence of results, (2) direction of graduate theses in economics, or (3) service as a consultant or advisor on technical economics problems Basic Requirement for Geography Series 0150 Degree: geography; or related physical or social science such as geology, meteorology, economics, statistics, sociology, anthropology, political science, history, cartography, computer science, urban studies, or planning that included at least 24 semester hours in geography or related fields. or Combination of education and experience: courses equivalent to a major in geography, or a related field that included at least 24 semester hours in geography or related fields, as shown in A above, plus appropriate experience or additional education. Basic Requirement for Biological Sciences Series 0401 Degree: biological sciences, agriculture, natural resource management, chemistry, or related disciplines appropriate to the position. or Combination of education and experience: Courses equivalent to a major, as shown in A above, plus appropriate experience or additional education In addition to meeting the basic requirement, you must also possess experience and/or directly related education in the amounts listed below. GS-12: One year of specialized experience at or equivalent to the next lower grade level (GS-11). Specialized experience at this level is defined as: Conducting the full cycle of scientific research (including identifying research topics, defining study objectives, organizing and conducting the research, interpreting the results, and presenting the findings in the form of reports, demonstrations, manuscripts, and other appropriate technology transfer activities) in one or more of the following areas: a) the analysis and/or application of forest ecosystem services and values in urban communities, b) improve the accuracy and precision of estimates related to urban forest structure, functions and values across spatial and temporal scales, c) assess urban forest change through time and across space, and d) integrate these findings within an ecosystem services modeling suite and/or urban forest inventory program to understand environmental quality and community livability and inform policy and land management practices. Forming, leading, and participating in research teams of local or regional importance. Securing funding for scientific research through a variety of external funding sources Disseminating research findings at conferences or scientific meetings and publishing results in peer-reviewed journals. GS-13: One year of specialized experience at or equivalent to the next lower grade level (GS-12). Graduate level education alone is not qualifying at this grade level. To qualify at this grade, you must possess the specialized experience listed below.Specialized experience at this level is defined as: Conducting a diversity or body of research in the science, monitoring, and reporting of urban forest ecosystems in the US at the local to national scale; or, expanding knowledge and modeling of ecosystem services to aid urban forest management on regional to national scales as a Principal Investigator or project member on multiple studies that include the full cycle of scientific research (i.e. identifying research topics, defining study objectives, organizing and conducting the research, interpreting the results, and presenting the findings in the form of reports, demonstrations, manuscripts, and other appropriate technology transfer activities) as it pertains to: a) expanding the analysis and/or application of forest ecosystem services and values in urban communities, b) improving the accuracy and precision of estimates related to urban forest structure, functions and values across spatial and temporal scales, c) assessing urban forest change through time and across space, and/or d) integrating these findings within an established ecosystem services modeling suite and/or inventory program to understand environmental quality and community livability and inform policy and land management practices. Modifying existing methods to quantify urban forest structure and ecosystem services and testing applicability in a range of urban areas Developing and disseminating research findings in collaboration with resource managers and planners for presentation at conferences or scientific meetings and publishing results in peer-reviewed journals. GS-14: One year of specialized experience at or equivalent to the next lower grade level (GS-13). Graduate level education alone is not qualifying at this grade level. To qualify at this grade, you must possess the specialized experience listed below.Specialized experience at this level is defined as: Demonstrated originality and creativity in identifying and leading multidisciplinary teams conducting the full cycle of scientific research exploration of the most promising areas in the science, monitoring, and reporting of urban forest ecosystems at national to international scales; or, identifying and leading multidisciplinary teams expanding knowledge and modeling of ecosystem services to aid urban forest management on national to international scales as it pertains to: a) expanding the analysis and/or application of forest ecosystem services and values in urban communities, b) improving the accuracy and precision of estimates related to urban forest structure, functions and values across spatial and temporal scales, c) assessing urban forest change through time and across space, and/or d) integrating these findings within an established ecosystem services modeling suite and/or inventory program to understand environmental quality and community livability and inform policy and land management practices Developing new methods to quantify urban forest structure and ecosystem services and that are applicable in a range of urban areas and recognized national and/or internationally as defining the state-of-the-art; Assembling and leading interagency and intergovernmental collaborations of national and/or international importance by formulating research plans and hypotheses and securing significant extramural funding to carry out projects and interpret findings, present results by invitation to international conferences and scientific meetings, publish results in the top tier of peer-reviewed journals; and receiving recognition by scientific and/or management communities as a significant contributor to the field of study

Education

Substitution of education for specialized experience for the GS-12 only: Conferred Ph.D. degree that included scientific research in areas related to the work of the position which is: advancing the science, monitoring, and reporting of urban forest ecosystems in the US at the local to national scale or expanding the knowledge and modeling of ecosystem services to aid forest management on an international scale, and/or includes coursework in areas such as assessing forest change, economic value of ecosystem services, urban forestry, or human dimensions of urban forest management

Contacts

• Address USDA Forest Service HRM Contact Center DO NOT MAIL IN APPLICATIONS, SEE INSTRUCTIONS IN THE ANNOUNCEMENT. Albuquerque, NM 87109 US
• Name: HRM Contact Center
• Phone: 1-877-372-7248 X2
• Email: [email protected]