USDA FS Postdoctoral Fellow

*Applications will be reviewed on a rolling-basis.

USDA Forest Service Office/Lab and Location: A fellowship opportunity is available with the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Forest Service (FS) within the Forest Service Forest Products Laboratory (FPL) located in Madison, Wisconsin. Remote participation is a possibility.

At the heart of the USDA Forest Service's mission is their purpose. Everything they do is intended to help sustain forests and grasslands for present and future generations. Why? Because their stewardship work supports nature in sustaining life. This is the purpose that drives the agency’s mission and motivates their work across the agency. It’s been there from the agency’s very beginning, and it still drives them. To advance the mission and serve their purpose, the USDA Forest Service balances the short and long-term needs of people and nature by: working in collaboration with communities and our partners; providing access to resources and experiences that promote economic, ecological, and social vitality; connecting people to the land and one another; and delivering world-class science, technology and land management.

The mission of the US Forest Service Forest Products Laboratory (FPL) is to “to identify and conduct innovative wood and fiber utilization research that contributes to conservation and productivity of the forest resource, thereby sustaining forests, the economy, and quality of life.”  The aims of the Statistics, Life Cycle Analysis and Economics Research Work Unit at FPL are to: 1) provide integrated economic information, analysis, and projections indicating how and why the markets and technologies for wood products change over time, implications for natural resources management, and selected broad environmental and social impacts; 2) enhance the integrity and efficiency of the FPL’s research efforts through the development, evaluation, and application of modern statistical methods; and 3) provide life cycle analysis of the environmental impacts of wood-based products and uses.

Research Project: The Statistics, Life Cycle Analysis and Economics Research Work Unit at FPL is currently seeking an ORISE fellow for a research project titled, “Structural modification and update of the U.S. national harvested wood products carbon model (WOODCARB II)”. USDA Forest Service has been using the WOODCARB II model to provide the U.S. annual estimates of the harvested wood products (HPW) carbon stocks and fluxes as part of the US commitment to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), complementing the reporting of the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and removals on forest land in annual inventory of US GHG emissions and sinks reported by the US Environmental Project Agency (EPA). The goal of the project is to provide a timely update and modifications of this model, as new science and methods have evolved since its development. 

Learning Objectives: The selected fellow in this project will have the opportunity to contribute and advance their knowledge and skills in wood products carbon related research that will involve maintaining databases of U.S. national and regional wood products production, and consumption, and trade data, wood uses in construction and other end uses, losses of wood from their uses, tracking of carbon contained in wood products throughout their lives and after their end of lives, and statistically fitting the historical wood products carbon data while in use and in landfills after their discards. The fellow will have the opportunity to enhance their communications skills via participating in various formal and informal meetings and conferences and writing manuscripts and reports for possible publication in Forest Service and Journal outlets. The participant will collaborate with a team of interdisciplinary scientists from Forest Service and Universities.

Mentor: The mentor for this opportunity is Prakash Nepal (prakash.nepal@usda.gov). If you have questions about the nature of the research, please contact the mentor.

Anticipated Appointment Start Date: September 2024.  Start date is flexible and will depend on a variety of factors.

Appointment Length: The appointment will initially be for one year but may be extended upon recommendation of USDA Forest Service and is contingent on the availability of funds.

Level of Participation: The appointment is full time.

Participant Stipend: The participant will receive a monthly stipend commensurate with educational level and experience in the range of $60,000 to $70,000 annually with an additional allowance for health insurance.

Citizenship Requirements: This opportunity is available to U.S. citizens, Lawful Permanent Residents (LPR), and foreign nationals. Non-U.S. citizen applicants should refer to the Guidelines for Non-U.S. Citizens Details page of the program website for information about the valid immigration statuses that are acceptable for program participation.

ORISE Information: This program, administered by ORAU through its contract with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to manage the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE), was established through an interagency agreement between DOE and USDA Forest Service. Participants do not become employees of USDA, USDA Forest Service, DOE or the program administrator, and there are no employment-related benefits. Proof of health insurance is required for participation in this program. Health insurance can be obtained through ORISE.

Questions: Please visit our Program Website. After reading, if you have additional questions about the application process please email ORISE.USFS.FPL@orau.org and include the reference code for this opportunity.

Qualifications

The qualified candidate should be currently pursuing or have received a doctoral degree in the one of the relevant fields (e.g. statistics, data sciences, mathematics, economics, forestry, natural resources or related disciplines). Degree must have been received within the past four years, or anticipated to be received by 12/2/2024.

Preferred skills:

• Enthusiasm to learn new knowledge and skills relevant for the project.
• Basic knowledge of U.S. forests and wood products sector (e.g. timber harvests, production, consumption, trade, its end uses, and fate of wood products after the end of their service lives), statistics, emerging data science tools and techniques
• A demonstrated ability to use a statistical programming language such as R or Python for non-linear data fitting.

Eligibility Requirements

• Degree: Doctoral Degree received within the last 48 months or anticipated to be received by 12/2/2024 12:00:00 AM.