Research Job Opportunities

Position Overview

The Grants and Contracts Administrator II (GCA II) is responsible for sponsored project compliance in conjunction with other units and with faculty and staff who act as stewards of sponsored project funding. This position ensures sponsored project compliance by providing organization, oversight, analysis and award management of their assigned sponsored project agreements, including a comprehensive analysis of agreement terms and conditions, cited federal regulations and university policy and procedure. This position is responsible for reviewing and processing all assigned agreements, modifications and requests for sponsor prior approval, with a focus on mid- to high-risk project types.

Duties may include:

• Collect, analyze, interpret and document required information from sponsored project agreements and amendments, including sponsor terms, federal regulations, deliverables, etc.
• Serve as a liaison between university stakeholders and sponsor contacts to resolve project-related administrative questions and issues
• Provide assistance, interpretation and guidance to principal investigators (PIs) and other university employees
• Conduct research and analysis of new and existing agency requirements; recommend changes to university policy as needed for compliance
• Simultaneously handle a variety of assignments that require a high degree of attention
• Resolve compliance issues
• Review, interpret and translate budget data to establish accounting in the financial system
• Enter and review recorded data in the electronic research administration (ERA) system for upload into the financial system
• Identify compliance risks and work with supervisor to resolve the issue
• Assist with updating process documentation
• Develop, deliver and participate in workshops and seminars
• Maintain records and contribute to metrics data
• Organize, prioritize and plan personal workload to meet deadlines
• Other duties as assigned

Job Duties

Steward sponsored project compliance by (Estimated effort: 55%):

• Collect, analyze, interpret and document required information from sponsored project agreements and amendments, including sponsor terms, federal regulations, deliverables, etc.
• Serve as a liaison between university stakeholders and sponsor contacts to resolve project-related administrative questions and issues
• Provide assistance, interpretation and guidance to principal investigators (PIs) and other university employees
• Conduct research and analysis of new and existing agency requirements; recommend changes to university policy as needed for compliance
• Simultaneously handle a variety of assignments that require a high degree of attention
• Resolve compliance issues
• Review, interpret and translate budget data to establish accounting in the financial system
• Enter and review recorded data in the electronic research administration (ERA) system for upload into the financial system
• Identify compliance risks and work with supervisor to resolve the issue
• Organize, prioritize and plan personal workload to meet deadlines

Assist in advancing compliance by (Estimated effort: 35%):

• Assist with updating process documentation
• Develop, deliver and participate in workshops and seminars
• Maintain records and contribute to metrics data

Support OSP by (Estimated effort: 10%):

• Other duties as assigned

Requirements

Education

• High School Diploma or equivalent

Experience

• Two years in a sponsored programs-related support position with a primary responsibility for stewarding compliance with contractual terms and conditions
• Using spreadsheet software to compile, summarize and analyze financial data
• Editing and writing business correspondence using proper grammar and punctuation as demonstrated in application materials
• Interpreting, applying and explaining financial stewardship policies, procedures, rules and regulations
• Analyzing information from a variety of sources, identifying problems, defining alternatives and assisting to implement recommendations
• Independently managing projects that involve multiple stakeholders

Physical Requirements and Working Conditions

• None

Preferred Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree
• Certified Research Administrator or Certified Financial Research Administrator
• Three or more years of experience in a sponsored programs-related support position either pre- or post-award, doing work related to compliance with the regulatory principles that govern sponsored funding, preferably at an institution of higher education, non-profit or federal entity
• Experience serving as a liaison between internal and external entities and individuals to coordinate activities and resolve issues
• Experience with pre- or post-award sponsored projects from multiple sponsoring agencies or multiple agreement types (such as National Science Foundation and National Institutes of Health, and a subaward or contract)
• Experience working in a customer service-oriented team environment to accomplish shared goals
• Experience using the Banner database system, specifically the finance and human resource modules
• Experience applying multiple regulatory policies to advance a decision or process

Additional information

• Apply through the University of Idaho Careers page
• In your application, please address all the minimum requirements in the Letter of Qualification. Preferential review of applicants to begin on October 18, 2024

Position Overview

The postdoctoral fellow will assist the ARI in analyzing “omics” scale datasets, including microbiome, genome, epigenome and transcriptome data. They will participate in research initiatives focused on computer vision and machine learning implementations. They will collaborate on research projects and contribute to funding proposals related to fish physiology, nutrition, genetics and water quality.

The initial appointment for this position is two years, with the possibility of an extension, contingent of successful funding acquisition. The position is in the Aquaculture Research Institute at University of Idaho’s Hagerman Fish Culture Experiment Station, located in Hagerman, ID.

Job Duties

Contribute to the overall success of the Aquaculture Research Institute by (Estimated effort: 100%):

• Assist in analyzing “omics” scale datasets, including microbiome, genome, epigenome and transcriptome data
• Participate in research initiatives focused on computer vision and machine learning implementations
• Collaborate on research projects and contribute to funding proposals related to fish physiology, nutrition, genetics and water quality

Requirements

Education

• Doctoral degree (PhD) in Aquaculture, Fisheries Science, Animal Science, Bioinformatics, Molecular Biology or a related field

Experience

• Three years of research experience related to aquaculture, bioinformatics or a similar field
• Experience with bioinformatics tools and programming languages such as R, Python or Bash
• Experience analyzing omics scale data analysis (microbiome, genomic, transcriptomic, epigenomic)
• Familiarity with aquaculture systems and species
• Strong scientific writing skills with a track record of publications

Physical Requirements and Working Conditions

• None

Preferred Qualifications

• Three years of research experience related to aquaculture, bioinformatics or a similar field
• Experience with bioinformatics tools and programming languages such as R, Python or Bash
• Experience analyzing omics scale data analysis (microbiome, genomic, transcriptomic, epigenomic)
• Familiarity with aquaculture systems and species
• Strong scientific writing skills with a track record of publications

Additional information

• Apply through the University of Idaho Careers page
• In your application, please address all the minimum requirements in the Letter of Qualification. Preferential review of applicants to begin on October 18, 2024

Position Overview

We are seeking an Enterprise Systems Analyst I to join the Research Computing and Data Services (RCDS) team within the Institute for Interdisciplinary Data Science (IIDS) at University of Idaho. This position plays a key role in supporting impactful scientific research by managing and maintaining Linux-based environments critical to our High-Performance Computing and Software Development teams. Responsibilities include server installation, configuration, system performance monitoring and troubleshooting. This role offers significant career growth potential within a dynamic and innovative research environment.

This position is responsible for auditing, reporting, inventorying, ordering, installing and maintaining inventory systems infrastructure equipment. The position will act as part of a team and will provide customer service and end user support. The position will provide input on solutions, prioritizing requests and maintain documentation.

Level I positions provide server infrastructure, storage, cloud platform support and related security for server systems to the university community. They will follow standard processes and procedures to resolve server system compliance, work on smaller projects with limited scope, follow documented processes and standards and participate in on-call rotation.

Duties may include:

• Design and use audits and reports to identify and resolve server problems
• Engage Application Administrators and customers to help troubleshoot application-related problems
• Perform periodic ordering, audits, analysis and reporting for software licensing and support agreements
• Evaluate, implement and maintain systems infrastructure management tools
• Maintain server system drivers and firmware
• Coordinate software licensing, contracts, service purchasing and renewals
• Create, edit and update documentation for various Systems Infrastructure processes
• Peer review new code, documentation and processes
• Review and suggesting improvements to source code and documentation for scripts and applications
• Improve reliability and repeatability of processes by utilizing scripting, software tools and automation
• Other duties as assigned

Job Duties

Audit, report, order, install, inventory and maintain Systems Infrastructure and equipment by (Estimated effort: 80%):

• Designing and using audits and reports to identify and resolve server problems
• Engaging Application Administrators and customers to help troubleshoot application-related problems
• Performing periodic ordering, audits, analysis and reporting for software licensing and support agreements
• Evaluating, implementing and maintaining Systems Infrastructure management tools
• Periodically participating in an on-call rotation, monitoring server health and responding to incidents and events
• Maintaining server system drivers and firmware
• Ensuring the timely ordering, renewal and installation of SSL certificates
• Coordinating software licensing, contracts, service purchasing and renewals
• Tracking equipment replacement needs and Coordinate replacement schedules
• Providing access for customers to secure server rooms
• Working with Facilities to analyze cooling, power and room or building security needs
• Maintaining emergency equipment for emergencies
• Creating, editing and updating documentation for various Systems Infrastructure processes
• Maintaining documentation to ensure accuracy, identify inefficiencies and improve time-consuming processes and procedures
• Sharing knowledge and teaching new employees standards for using team documentation
• Peer reviewing new code, documentation and processes
• Maintaining an accurate and detailed work log in the OIT ticket tracker system for work requests
• Reviewing and suggesting improvements for source code and documentation for scripts and applications
• Improving reliability and repeatability of processes
• Providing a high level of customer service and support

Architect, secure and deploy Systems Infrastructure solutions by (Estimated effort: 20%):

• Configuring and maintaining an enterprise server environment while maximizing security, reliability and performance
• Evaluating and implementing new server systems technologies
• Implementing server system changes without adversely affecting service availability
• Providing standardized server systems consultation services to non-OIT system administrators
• Performing server systems security analysis and monitoring
• Identifying and responding to server systems problems, outages and events
• Helping configure and maintain server system security tools
• Coordinating remediation of security vulnerabilities

Requirements

Education

• High School Diploma or equivalent

Experience

• Configuring and maintaining an enterprise server environment while maximizing security, reliability and performance
• Evaluating and implementing new server systems technologies
• Implementing server system changes without adversely affecting service availability
• Providing standardized server systems consultation services to non-OIT system administrators
• Performing server systems security analysis and monitoring
• Identifying and responding to server systems problems, outages and events
• Helping configure and maintain server system security tools
• Coordinating remediation of security vulnerabilities

Physical Requirements and Working Conditions

• Ability to lift, carry or otherwise move devices weighing up to 50 pounds
• Ability to bend, squat, crawl and navigate confined spaces

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with current configuration management and deployment strategies
• Experience managing web servers and databases, especially Apache, Nginx, MySQL, PostgreSQL
• Creating RPM packages and repositories
• Experience with HPC systems and network file systems
• Demonstrable familiarity with web application languages and frameworks such as PHP, Python, R, Flask, Django
• Operational experience with content management systems, especially Drupal or WordPress
• Experience with Virtualization systems and hypervisors including VMWare vSphere, OpenNebula and Docker
• Experience with enterprise networking design and implementation (routing, VLANs)
• Familiarity with common network protocols such as TCP/IP, DHCP, DNS, NTP, SNMP, SSH, SMTP and LDAP
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Ability to keep up with technological changes

Additional information

• Apply through the University of Idaho Careers page
• In your application, please address all the minimum requirements in the Letter of Qualification. Preferential review of applicants to begin on October 29, 2024

Position Overview 

This software development position will enable important scientific research by designing and developing cutting-edge science tools for web and mobile platforms. This position reports to the Research Applications Architect within the Research Computing and Data Services (RCDS) unit of the Institute for Interdisciplinary Data Sciences (IIDS).

This position will use web and multi-platform mobile technologies (both front-end and back-end) to make scientific data and computational models interoperable, accessible, visual and interactive. This position will help integrate and maintain multiple research data management systems and scientific applications that support grant-funded research projects at University of Idaho and beyond.

This technical position works closely and collaboratively with other research computing staff within RCDS plus a wide variety of outside partners — including scientists both inside and outside of University of Idaho. This position will interface with collaborators from external state and federal agencies as well as the private sector and is responsible for guiding the development and adoption of strategic technical architecture to support research computing within IIDS and the broader University of Idaho research enterprise.

This position is responsible for participating in and leading the innovation, design, development, deployment and maintenance of interactive research software systems, information/data management systems and research applications at U of I. These responsibilities include analyzing, recommending, developing and deploying data-driven research applications and frameworks. This position designs, adopts and troubleshoots backend databases, user interfaces and application frameworks.

The Full Stack Web/Mobile Application Developer will serve as second-layer technical support for RCDS and will be responsible for developing and delivering training materials, maintaining documentation within a knowledge database and providing a high level of QA/QC in all web/mobile applications, databases and documentation.

Job Duties

Lead the full-stack development of web/mobile applications to support data-intensive research by (Estimated effort: 100%):

• Work independently and collaboratively within the RCDS team to build dynamic, full-stack web and mobile applications to support data-intensive science
• Design, develop, deploy, document and maintain web and mobile software systems and related technologies to support interactive data management/dissemination, analyses and visualization
• Serve as primary project lead and point-of-contact for various web and mobile software development projects
• Regularly provide interactive demos to research partners to highlight project progress and collect feedback
• Collaborate with university staff and internal/external partners to develop and integrate new services, tools and products into U of I’s growing Research Computing portfolio
• Develop aesthetically compelling and interactive web/mobile User Interfaces for presenting research data, models and derived products to researchers, stakeholders and the lay public
• Incorporate interactive geospatial mapping interfaces to web/mobile applications where possible
• Document designs, plans and innovations within the team knowledge base and code repositories

Provide consultation, technical support and training for funded projects by (Estimated effort: 20%):

• Consult with scientific collaborators to match their science needs with technical solutions
• Resolve technical issues encountered by scientific collaborators by providing technical support and developing and maintaining innovative web/mobile based solutions that satisfy their needs
• Develop and administer training sessions for customers and team members as necessary
• Prepare online training materials, such as written documentation, FAQs and online videos for RCDS staff and collaborators as needed

Contribute to overall team effort by (Estimated effort: 5%):

• Stay informed of technological innovations in web/mobile app development by participating in webinars, workshops, conferences, training sessions and other professional development activities
• Communicate regularly with RCDS team members to share technical expertise and knowledge
• Attend meetings and work within committees as requested
• Perform other duties as assigned by supervisor and the Director of Research Computing & Data Services (RCDS)

Requirements

Education

• Bachelor’s Degree in computer science/engineering, data science, biology/bioinformatics, ecology, geology, environmental science or related field; four additional years of experience designing and developing complex relational databases and database-driven web/mobile applications (for a total of four years) may substitute for a Bachelor’s Degree

Experience

• Designing and developing complex relational databases and database-driven web/mobile applications
• Working with Python and/or PHP
• Using, parsing and constructing JSON and/or XML
• Coding and troubleshooting SQL, JavaScript, HTML, CSS
• Working with web service APIs
• Working directly with partners to design, document, test, deploy, configure, support and troubleshoot research software applications
• Using the Linux operating system

Physical Requirements and Working Conditions

• None

Preferred Qualifications

• M.S. degree (or higher) in computer science/engineering, data science, biology/bioinformatics, ecology, geology, environmental science or related field or equivalent research experience in a scientific field and at least 5 years of proven work experience in web/mobile application development, database administration
• Experience:
  • Computer programming skills in three or more of the following technologies: Python, PHP, R, SQL, Node.js, JavaScript, C/C++/C#, Ruby-on-Rails, shell scripting
  • JavaScript frameworks such as Angular, React, jQuery
  • Flask or Django web application frameworks
  • Scientific Data management and analysis
  • Designing and implementing REST Application Programming Interface (API)
  • Team-based software development environments using version control systems such as git/GitHub, Subversion, etc.
  • Content management systems and development frameworks including Drupal or WordPress.
  • Effectively communicating scientific research to multiple audiences
• Demonstrated working knowledge:
  • Best practices and current trends in database design and web/mobile application development
  • Configuring and implementing a database-driven content management system
  • NoSQL database platforms (e.g. MongoDB)
  • Machine learning frameworks such as TensorFlow, PyTorch or Sci-kit Learn
  • Mapping and visualization libraries such as D3, Plotly, Leaflet, Chart.js, Highcharts
  • Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and web-mapping applications/tools
  • Aesthetically compelling graphic design principles through providing a working portfolio of previous work
• Demonstrated ability to:
  • Analyze data and software systems and interpret and communicate important technical data
  • Prioritize and problem solve, work independently and be attentive to the details and deadlines of complex and multiple projects
  • Provide technical and project leadership
  • Think critically, act independently and exercise initiative
  • Work collaboratively and contribute to the team effort to achieve goals
  • Maintain productivity under a variety of circumstances
  • Manage a variety of projects and workloads simultaneously and meet deadlines
  • Communicate effectively with supervisors/collaborators in web/mobile application development

Additional information

• Apply through the University of Idaho Careers page
• In your application, please address all the minimum requirements in the Letter of Qualification. Preferential review of applicants to begin on October 29, 2024

Position Overview

The Idaho Geological Survey (IGS) is seeking a Research Support Hydrogeologist position to support ongoing grant-funded hydrogeologic projects at IGS for groundwater supply and groundwater quality investigations in Idaho. The Research Support Hydrogeologist position reports to the IGS Hydrogeologist with input from other IGS staff.

Based in Boise, Idaho, the Research Support Hydrogeologist position will support IGS staff in the collection, compilation, analysis and interpretation and modeling of groundwater datasets. Specifically, this position supports ongoing water quality research under contract to the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality for estimating nitrate loading to groundwater from unsewered septic tank systems in Idaho.

Duties may include:

• Compile datasets to support research objectives
• Data management, groundwater modeling and analysis, interpretation, quality assurance and archiving of earth science information related to Idaho hydrogeology
• Communication of research results through supporting timely publications
• Other duties as assigned

Job Duties

Conducts hydrogeologic research by (Estimated effort: 50%):

• Identifying appropriate hydrogeologic datasets for the project
• Compiling and synthesizing information to support modeling efforts including but not limited to: groundwater levels, well information, subsurface properties and flows, soil and climatic datasets, land use and groundwater quality datasets

Undertakes dataset analyses by (Estimated effort: 20%):

• Performing analytical modeling of hydrogeologic datasets through GIS, computer modeling and/or Excel spreadsheet population
• Conducting appropriate QA/QC measures

Assist IGS staff with project deliverables in a timely manner by (Estimated effort: 20%):

• Tabulating results
• Preparing figures
• Writing section(s) for the summary report
• Providing support for the above-mentioned tasks, including QA/QC and formatting report products

Contributes to the IGS team effort by (Estimated effort: 5%):

• Collaborating with other IGS geologists and support staff to accomplish the mission statement goals of the agency
• Interacting with other local, state and federal agencies
• Undertaking other research duties as assigned

Maintains professional and technical knowledge by (Estimated effort: 5%):

• Continuing education through participation at scientific meetings and literature review

Requirements

Education

• Bachelor’s Degree in hydrologic sciences, geology, water resources or closely related field

Experience

• Two years participating in hydrogeologic investigations
• Using computer software and applications for vector and raster graphics
• Using word processing and spreadsheet software
• Using computer software and applications for geographic information systems (GIS)
• Using programming languages for GIS
• Conducting independent research
• Working as part of an interdisciplinary team
• Writing research reports

Required Other

• Must be able to travel occasionally

Physical Requirements and Working Conditions

• Must be able to carry, lift or otherwise move up to 20 pounds

Preferred Qualifications

• Master’s Degree in hydrologic sciences, geology, water resources or closely related field and at least six months of relevant experience
• Greater than two years of relevant professional work experience
• Experience in modeling of subsurface groundwater flow using software (e.g., MODFLOW)
• Other desirable qualifications include experience in aquifer test analysis, groundwater/surface water interactions, water availability and water quality assessments and contaminant transport
• Demonstrated proficiency in scientific writing and technical communication and organizational skills

Additional information

• Apply through the University of Idaho Careers page
• In your application, please address all the minimum requirements in the Letter of Qualification. Preferential review of applicants to begin on November 18, 2024