Climate Change Fellows will support the implementation of the agency's climate strategy under the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) statute for better understanding and measuring the climate impacts of conservation and management practices and for improving carbon sequestration and greenhouse gas (GHG) estimations. NRCS's mission is to deliver conservation solutions to agricultural producers for protecting natural resources while maintaining and enhancing agricultural land productivity.

Duties

Review and develop conservation and management activity data for agroecosystem (e.g., watershed, farm) assessment projects. Assist with development of agroecosystem assessment plans and reports and provide support to agency's program leaders. Serve as a technical expert for supporting agroecosystem assessment by evaluating biogeochemical processes and outcomes based on sound application of interdisciplinary sciences. Provide improvement to agency-supported agroecosystem models or tools with measurement and improved activity data to address and reduce the environmental consequences of production agriculture. Serve as technical expert liaison with NRCS institute specialists and scientists to support and coordinate science-based agroecosystem conservation and climate assessment. Provide technical support on new agroecosystem modeling approaches and decision support tools. Develop technical and informational reports, handbooks, and papers on multi-scale agroecosystem modeling and assessment. Provide technical support and training on decision support tools related to large scale and site- specific natural resource and conservation planning. Develop metadata and training courses and conducts workshops and training.

Requirements

• You must be a US Citizen; US National; or non-US citizen who has been lawfully admitted for permanent residence as evidenced by a Permanent Resident Card.
• Males born after 12/31/1959 must be Selective Service registered or exempt
• Subject to satisfactory adjudication of background investigation and/or fingerprint check. If selected you will be sent instructions on obtaining fingerprints. Please note we are not able to reimburse any fees incurred for fingerprints.
• Successful completion of one-year probationary period, unless previously served.
• Direct Deposit: 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 at https://www.e-verify.gov/
• Must possess and maintain a valid state motor vehicle operator's license for the type of vehicle(s) operated to perform the duties of this position.

Qualifications

Applicants must meet all qualifications and eligibility requirements by the closing date of the announcement including specialized experience and/or education, as defined below. Basic Education Requirement: 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 above, plus appropriate experience or additional education. Basic Education Requirement: 0408 Degree: biology, or a related field of science underlying ecological research that included at least 30 semester hours in basic and applied biological sciences. These hours must have included at least 9 semester hours in ecology, and 12 semester hours in physical and mathematical sciences. Basic Education Requirement: 0457 Degree: soil conservation or a related agricultural or natural resource discipline such as agronomy, soil science, forestry, agricultural education, or agricultural engineering. The study must have included 30 semester hours in a natural resource or agricultural field, including at least 12 semester hours in a combination of soils and crops or plant science. Of the 12 semester hours, a minimum of 3 semester hours must have been in soils and 3 semester hours in crops or plant science OR Combination of Education and Experience: of at least 30 semester hours in one or more of the disciplines shown above, including at least 12 semester hours in a combination of soils and crops or plant science, plus appropriate experience or education comparable to a 4 year degree. Of the 12 semester hours, a minimum of 3 semester hours must have been in soils and 3 semester hours in crops or plant science. In addition to meeting one of the Basic Requirements listed above, applicants must meet the following Minimum Qualifications Requirement in order to be considered: Specialized Experience: To qualify for the GS-12 level, you must possess at least one year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-11 level or higher in Federal service, or comparable experience not gained through Federal service. For this position, specialized experience is defined as: Compiling field measurement data or management activity data (e.g., tillage, cover crop, irrigation, fertilization, or livestock) for agroecosystem modeling. Assist in evaluating and improving ecosystem biogeochemical processes related to carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) cycling pools (e.g., soil organic C, biomass C, CO2-N2O-CH4 fluxes). Conducting modeling and assessment using field, watershed, or farm scale agroecosystem models (e.g., EPIC, DayCent, DNDC, APEX, SWAT, or RuFaS). Experienced in using computer languages (e.g., Fortran, C/C++, Python, or others) and assisting in tool documentation and training. Specialized Experience: To qualify for the GS-13 level, you must possess at least one year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-12 level or higher in Federal service, or comparable experience not gained through Federal service. For this position, specialized experience is defined as: Compiling field measurement data or management activity data (e.g., tillage, cover crop, irrigation, fertilization, or livestock) for agroecosystem modeling. Evaluating and improving ecosystem biogeochemical processes related to carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) cycling pools (e.g., soil organic C, biomass C, CO2-N2O-CH4 fluxes). Conducting modeling and assessment using field, watershed, or farm scale agroecosystem models (e.g., EPIC, DayCent, DNDC, APEX, SWAT, or RuFaS). Developing programs or tools using computer languages (e.g., Fortran, C/C++, Python, or others), documenting tools, and conducting tool training. Note: There is no education substitution for the GS-13 or GS-12 level. For more information on the qualifications for this position, click here: https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards/#url=Group-Standards 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 and can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience.

Education

You must submit a copy of your college transcripts or a list of college courses with credit hours, dates completed, and grades received to verify all education requirements (i.e. substitution of education and/or basic education requirement). If a relevant course is not clearly qualifying (e.g. special topic, seminar, research, thesis, obscure or misleading course title, etc.), please submit an official course syllabi and/or detailed course description from the university/college for that particular course to ensure you are properly evaluated. Please note that qualifications determinations are based solely on the information submitted for each particular vacancy announcement. You must document all requirements on every vacancy; we cannot use previous determinations as a basis for rating. All required information must be received by the closing date of this announcement, and non-submission of all required documents/documentation will result in non-consideration. Unofficial transcripts will be accepted. This information must be received by the closing date of this announcement. Non-submission of these documents will result in non-consideration.

Education must be accredited by an accrediting institution recognized by the U.S. Department of Education in order for it to be credited towards qualifications. Applicants must, therefore, only report attendance and/or degrees from schools accredited by accrediting institutions recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. Applicants can verify accreditation via this link. All education claimed by applicants will be verified accordingly. Important: If you are using foreign education to meet qualification requirements, you must send a Certificate of Foreign Equivalency with your transcript in order to receive credit for that education. Click on this link for more information.

Contacts

• Address Natural Resources Conservation Service 1400 Independence Ave SW Washington, DC 20250 US
• Name: Herbert Brooks
• Phone: 000-000-0000
• Email: [email protected]