General Description:

Texas A&M AgriLife Research seeks an outstanding, innovative, and dynamic research faculty capable of leadership and management in water resources/ecosystems modeling. This appointment will be 12 months, non-tenured, 100% Research, and administratively located with Texas A&M AgriLife at the Blackland Research and Extension Center (BREC; https://blackland.tamu.edu/) in Temple, Texas. The incumbent will provide exemplary leadership in establishing an innovative research program in global-scale hydrologic and ecosystem modeling research, which broadly covers research topics including, but not limited to, watershed management, ecohydrology, rangeland ecology, restoration, and regional/global scale modeling research. The successful candidate will be affiliated with one of the academic departments in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Texas A&M University in College Station.

Position Responsibilities:

This position will be expected to develop an independent ecosystem modeling research program that dovetails into collaborative programs with Texas A&M AgriLife Research faculty and USDA Agricultural Research Service in Temple.

• Must be able to compete aggressively for federal, state, commodity, and other competitive funding in research areas related to large-scale ecosystem modeling, water conservation, and natural resources.
• Must be able to bring in research expertise in water/agricultural resources modeling with mechanistic models, artificial intelligence, and machine learning techniques to expand and broaden expertise in data-driven modeling research at Texas A&M AgriLife Research by addressing the multiple challenges in ecosystem research, including climate-smart agriculture, demographics, natural systems, big data, and artificial intelligence/machine learning, and soil and water resources.
• Must publish research results in peer-reviewed journals.
• Expected to mentor graduate students, provide scientific guidance to graduate students, guest lecture, and possibly teach courses.
• Expected to develop strong collaborations with existing research programs at Texas A&M AgriLife Blackland Research Center and the USDA-ARS Grassland Soil and Water Research Laboratory in Temple, TX.
• Expected to leverage current research programs on modeling ecological systems at local to national scales, to adapt and extend to international and global scales in cooperation with international agencies such as USAID, NASA, World Bank, FAO, CGIAR, and others.
• Expected to develop working relationships with industry and commodity groups and participate in professional associations.
• Expected to serve on unit, department, agency, and university committees as appropriate.
• Travel is required to participate in meetings and conduct research programs.

Administrative Relationships:

The position reports to the Center Director of Texas A&M AgriLife Research in Temple and to the Department Head. All promotion processes will adhere to Departmental and Center policies.

Required Qualifications: 

• D. in biological and agricultural engineering, environmental science, civil engineering, natural resource sciences, hydrological data science or engineering, or closely related discipline.  
• Capable of securing external funding and producing high-quality scholarly publications.
• Commitment to an interdisciplinary team approach to innovative research.
• Interpersonal skills to establish effective communication and working relationships with staff, faculty, administration, and external contacts.
• Excellent English oral, written, and electronic communication skills.
• Ability to use a personal computer to communicate effectively, prepare proposals to include cost information on spreadsheets and provide reports of activities.
• Ability to work both independently and as a member of multidisciplinary teams.
• Ability to communicate effectively with faculty, staff, and stakeholders.
• Ability to multi-task and recruit and manage support staff effectively.

Preferred Qualifications: 

• Experience with large-scale watershed assessment, ecosystem management, or water resources conservation research using the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT).
• Knowledge of biophysical processes in soil, water, and ecosystem.
• Familiarity with data-driven modeling research addressing multiple ecosystem management and conservation challenges, including climate-smart agriculture, demographics, big data, and artificial intelligence/machine learning.