Assistant Professor in Movement Ecology

The Utah State University Department of Wildland Resources and the Ecology Center are seeking applications for a full-time, 9-month tenure-track faculty position in movement ecology. The position, to be filled at the Assistant Professor level, will be 50% research, 40% teaching, and 10% service.

We seek an innovative scholar who will advance basic and applied research on the movement of organisms. Specific themes of interest include, but are not limited to: demographic and ecological consequences of movement, mechanisms underlying movement patterns,migration, trophic interactions, spatially explicit consumer-resource dynamics, coupling movement and environmental big data, using movement data to infer behavior, translating movement data into conservation and management outcomes. The appointed faculty member will be expected to develop an externally-funded research program that achieves an international reputation for research and graduate training in movement ecology.

Fundamental to this position is working within and across disciplinary and institutional boundaries and collaborating with state and federal agencies. The appointed faculty member will mentor and advise undergraduate and graduate students from diverse backgrounds, as well as teach courses to undergraduate and graduate students within the area of expertise as allocated by the Department Head. An applicant's expertise should complement existing strengths in the Quinney College of Natural Resources and the Ecology Center. Through collaborations with faculty and extension personnel, the appointed faculty member will become a key player in the highly productive and collegial team of ecologists at Utah State University. We are interested in applicants who can prosper within a collaborative, interdisciplinary environment of physical, life, and social scientists.

Please contact the search committee chair, Dan MacNulty (dan.macnulty@usu.edu) with questions. Review of applications begins November 27, 2023. Anticipated start date: August 1, 2024.

Link to job flyer: 
https://www.usu.edu/hr/files/jobs/wild-movement-ecology-flyer.pdf

Minimum Qualifications:

• An earned Ph.D. in fields such as, but not limited to, biology, ecology, environmental science,geography, mathematical biology, wildlife biology, statistics, and zoology.
• Demonstrated research expertise related to movement ecology.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Research experience relevant to at least one of the “themes of interest”, above, or any other significant theme related to movement ecology highlighted by the applicant.
• Record of peer-reviewed scientific publications related to the ecology and/or analysis of organismal movement, commensurate with the applicant’s career stage.
• Evidence of leadership in the creation of the applicant’s publications (e.g., conceived the ideas or experimental design, analyzed and interpreted the data; or wrote the manuscript).
• Demonstrated expertise in the ecology and analysis of movement and space use of mammals, birds, and/or herptiles.
• Potential to develop an externally funded research program in movement ecology.
• Potential to conduct applied research that addresses problems in conservation and management.
• Potential to work cooperatively and productively with personnel in state and federal natural resource agencies.
• Potential to serve as an effective teacher and mentor of undergraduate and graduate students.
• Potential to teach a graduate-level movement ecology course covering such topics as habitat selection and utilization models, occurrence and range estimation, discrete- and continuous-time movement models, behavioral inference, linking movement to population- and community-level processes, and data management.
• Demonstrated commitment to increasing the participation of under-represented groups in ecology and natural resources.

University and Community Highlights:

Utah State University is an R1 research institution and Utah’s land-grant university, with a strong commitment to excellence, access, and inclusion. USU provides a high-quality undergraduate and graduate education and has long been recognized for its contributions to social mobility, research, and public service. The Quinney College of Natural Resources is a welcoming, socially active community of faculty, students, and staff, and houses the Wildland Resources, Environment and Society, and Watershed Sciences Departments. Wildland Resources is the largest of the three departments and is an internationally renowned center of ecological research.

Located in Logan, Utah, USU offers the amenities of a college town within the Cache Valley metropolitan zone of over 155,000 people. The USU main campus is a 90-minute drive to Salt Lake City, positioned along the scenic Wasatch Mountains and Bear River Range. Logan has a bonanza of outdoor activities within minutes of campus and is within a day’s drive of seven national parks.

Utah State University is an affirmative action/equal opportunity institution and is committed to a learning and working environment free from discrimination, including harassment. For USU’s non-discrimination notice, see equity.usu.edu/non-discrimination.