Plant Geneticist/Weed Scientist

Description of Duties

The incumbent serves as a Research Scientist in the Global Change and Photosynthesis Research Unit (GCPRU) in Urbana, Illinois. GCPRU research addresses one of the greatest challenges facing agriculture – global climate change – in the context of crop and weed management. GCPRU research adapts crops and cropping systems to rising atmospheric carbon dioxide, ozone concentrations, increasing temperature, altered precipitation patterns, and weed interference. Incumbent’s research focuses on genetics, diversity, and stress resistance mechanisms that facilitate the evolution of weedy species and wild crop relatives and contribute to their ability to compete with mainstream crops. Strategies to interfere with these mechanisms in weeds, or transfer climate resilience traits into mainstream crop species to improve their competitive ability, may be used to control weeds.
U.S. Citizenship is required.Degree: genetics; or one of the basic biological sciences that included at least 9 semester hours in genetics.Graduate Education: Genetics, or a curriculum or pattern of training that placed major emphasis on genetics or population biology. Graduate study in related fields such as agronomy, horticulture, plant sciences, biology, plant pathology, chemistry, molecular and cellular biology, and physiology that involved cross-training in genetics is qualifying, provided it placed sufficient emphasis on genetics.Additional requirements available at the website listed below.

Type of position

Full-Time

Salary

$86,962 to $134,435

Benefits

Location

Urbana, IL 1102 S. Goodwin Ave., Urbana, IL 61801,

Closing Date

07/23/2024

Date Position Available

USDA-ARS
The Agricultural Research Service (ARS) is the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s chief scientific in-house research agency. Our job is finding solutions to agricultural problems that affect Americans every day from field to table. Here are a few numbers to illustrate the scope of our organization: 660 research projects within 15 National Programs 2,000 scientists and post docs 5,000 other employees 90+ research locations, including overseas laboratories $1.7 billion fiscal year budget Mission: ARS delivers scientific solutions to national and global agricultural challenges.