The National Science Foundation is seeking a qualified candidate for a Physical Scientist (Program Director) position for the Infrastructure Cluster (IC) within the Directorate for Geosciences (GEO), Division of Atmospheric and Geospace Sciences (AGS) in Alexandria, VA. For more information on GEO please click here. For more information on AGS please click here.

Duties

The responsibilities of the NSF program director are constantly evolving. The program director is guided by the goals of NSF's Strategic Plan: (1) enable the United States to uphold a position of world leadership in all aspects of science, mathematics, and engineering, (2) promote the discovery, integration, dissemination, and employment of new knowledge in service to society, and (3) achieve excellence in U.S. science, mathematics, engineering, and technology education at all levels. The core strategies NSF staff employ include developing intellectual capital, strengthening the physical infrastructure, integrating research and education, and promoting partnerships. Responsibilities of the program director include, for example, long-range planning and budget development for the areas of science represented by the program or program cluster, the administration of the merit review process and proposal recommendations, the preparation of press releases, feature articles and material describing advances in the research supported, and coordination and liaison with other programs in NSF, other Federal agencies and organizations. The primary duties of the IC Program Officer are programmatic management, planning, and oversight of facilities. The incumbent will: Participates in all aspects of oversight of facilities in the Infrastructure Cluster, including NCAR and geospace facilities. Monitors the performance of the managing organization as required by a cooperative agreement, if applicable. Establishes divisional practices and processes for facilities oversight. Establishes standard procedures for tracking programmatic and financial information in coordination with program facilities managers and division managers. Assists with environmental compliance processes associated with facilities. Participates in the review of program plans for facilities and large projects and provides support on project management and financial aspects of program oversight, i.e., environmental reviews, audits, etc. Prepares funding actions for the facilities in consultation with the facilities program manager and maintain schedules for funds distribution to the facilities' managing organizations. Documents and tracks the implementation of decisions and action items resulting from meetings of various oversight, advisory, and review committees, keeping project partners and committee members informed as appropriate and expediting matters requiring urgent action. Organizes the appropriate advisory apparatus for reviews, evaluations, and findings as needed for project initiation, project performance, and the competition or renewal of the cooperative agreement (in collaboration with the facilities program managers). Prepares documentation for cooperative agreement amendments and renewal activities. Schedules, tracks, and prepares Directors Review Board (DRB) and NSB documents for the facilities and large projects. Evaluates the non-scientific and non-programmatic aspects of the program- and long-range plans for the facilities. Evaluates program budgets considering past, present, and future years' experiences, and projections, allocations and resource distributions within that budget, and post-award evaluation. Prepares financial and other programmatic information for inclusion in budget requests in support of Division management and facilities program managers. Maintains tracking schedule for budget submissions. Maintains permanent records on cloud and shared network drives, ensuring all required documentation is received, reviewed, and properly recorded. Develop and maintain new policies, and procedures as necessary to ensure compliance and completeness. Assists AGS management and facilities POs in preparing presentations and updates to advisory committees, NSF management, the National Science Board (NSB), and the scientific community. Conducts analyses concerning the efficiency and effectiveness of substantive facility program operations- gathers, analyzes, and presents data for further analysis utilizing research trends and results tracking to inform policy related to scientific content. Assists POs, and GEO and AGS leadership in all technical aspects of preparing for facility site visits, interfaces with other Divisions/Directorates/NSF Office of the Director (OD) and external partners to plan and coordinate outreach/site visit activities. Assists AGS management and facilities POs in preparing presentations and updates to advisory committees, NSF management, the National Science Board (NSB), and the scientific community. Performs other related duties as assigned.

Requirements

Qualifications

Candidates must have a Ph.D. in an appropriate field plus after award of the Ph.D., six or more years of successful research, research administration, and/or managerial experience pertinent to the position; OR a Master's degree in an appropriate field plus after award of the degree, eight or more years of successful research, research administration, and/or managerial experience pertinent to the position. Appropriate fields include atmospheric sciences, geospace sciences, earth system sciences, environmental sciences, facilities operations or a closely related field. A commitment to high scientific standards, considerable breadth of scientific interest and receptivity to new ideas. Also necessary are a strong sense of fairness, good judgment, and a high degree of personal integrity and ethics, decisiveness, and an ability to effectively lead individuals and teams across a variety of institutional cultures within Federal and state government agencies, legislative bodies, and private sector organizations.

Education

Please refer to the Qualifications section.

If your degree was obtained from a foreign institution, please also submit the certification from the Association for International Credential Evaluation Professionals, or certification equivalency.

Contacts

• Address NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION, DIVISION OF ATMOSPHERIC AND GEOSPACE SCIENCES 2415 Eisenhower Ave Alexandria, VA 22314 US
• Name: Staffing and Classification Branch
• Email: [email protected]