This position is located in the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA, Agricultural Research Unit, Plains Area, Small Grains & Food Crops Quality Research Unit in Fargo, ND. In this position, you will provide professional and scientific support in various aspects of food product research and development for the laboratory and collaborates with breeders, scientists, and industry representatives to plan and conduct complex tests and evaluations of end-use properties of wheat.

Duties

Performs wheat milling experiments using the MIAG Multomat mill. Provides input as to kernel, milling, baking and pasta processing characteristics on samples from plant breeders and industry researchers within and outside ARS. Plans and conducts end-use quality tests on new, industry, and research wheat variety samples to determine their projected end-use quality and functionality. Selects, assign duties to, and review the work of laboratory personnel. Ensures routine care, maintenance, and calibration of moderately complex laboratory instruments are performed.

Requirements

• You must be a US Citizen or US National.
• Males born after 12/31/1959 must be Selective Service registered or exempt.
• Subject to satisfactory adjudication of background investigation and/or fingerprint check.
• 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 https://www.e-verify.gov/.
• Applicants should be able to lift up to 50lbs.
• Applicants must be able to visually distinguish colors.

Qualifications

Applicants must meet all qualifications and eligibility requirements by the closing date of the announcement including time-in-grade restrictions, specialized experience and/or education, as defined below. Time in grade: Current federal employees applying for a promotion opportunity must meet the time-in-grade (TIG) requirement of 52 weeks of service at the next lower grade level in the normal line of progression for the position being filled. Basic Requirements Degree: food technology, or dairy technology, microbiology, biology, chemistry, physics, or a related discipline or field of biological, or physical science. The course work must have been comprised of at least 30 semester hours in the basic biological and physical sciences, and included at least 20 semester hours in food technology and closely related subjects, or 20 semester hours in subjects that can be applied directly to food technology. OR Combination of education and experience -- courses equivalent to a major, including the course work specified, as shown in A above, plus appropriate experience or additional education. AND Specialized Experience: Specialized experience is experience directly related to the position to be filled. Specialized experience must be described for each grade level advertised. The specialized experience requirements for this position are: Qualifying experience for GS-11 includes one year of specialized experience comparable to GS-09 which is directly related to the work of this position, and which has equipped the applicant with the knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform successfully the duties of the position. For this position, specialized experience includes: participating in food science related research projects by collecting and evaluating cereal crop samples; providing technical expertise and drafting scientific manuscripts and reports; and operating laboratory equipment used to investigate properties of cereal crop samples including kernel/flour evaluation, milling, dough rheology, or baking equipment. OR Education: The successful completion of 3 years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to a Ph.D. degree or Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree, if directly related. Related degrees may include food science, food technology, crop science, biochemistry, biology, or chemistry. OR A combination of education and experience as described above. 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

Please see above for education qualification requirement information.

Contacts

• Address Agricultural Research Service 2150 Centre Avenue Building D, Suite 300 Fort Collins, CO 80526 US
• Name: Megan Lawrence
• Phone: 571-363-3295
• Email: Megan.Lawrence@usda.gov