Description
Come join our team in Bushland, Texas!
The USDA-Agricultural Research Service (ARS) Soil and Water Management Research Unit of the Conservation & Production Research Laboratory is seeking a talented, creative, and driven individual to fill a GS-12/13/14/15 Research position as an Agricultural Engineer, Soil Scientist, or Plant Physiologist and join our team in Bushland, Texas, just 12 miles west of Amarillo. The promotion potential for this position is GS-15. This position is posted on USAJobs:
https://www.usajobs.gov/job/821507700
The 1,500 acre USDA-ARS Conservation & Production Research Laboratory (CPRL) has been recognized internationally as a Historic Landmark of the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers and has received the USDA Secretary’s Honor Award for Excellence for “sustaining rural economies across the drought-prone Southern High Plains by finding solutions to problems from declining water availability from the Ogallala Aquifer.” Our team received the U.S. Dept. of Energy Federal Energy and Water Management Award. The CPRL has also received Technology Transfer awards (6) from USDA, and from the Federal Laboratory Consortium (4) as well as the Irrigation Association Vanguard award, and we shared in the Irrigation Association National Water and Energy Conservation Award, honoring achievement in the conservation of water and energy relating to irrigation procedures, equipment, methods and techniques for its microirrigation research and development. We are known for our water resource development, management, and conservation work across the nation and internationally.
The individual filling this position will work alongside internationally recognized award-winning scientists. In this role, the individual will have the opportunity to work on multi-agency projects with public (e.g. federal and state agencies, professional organizations, and university partners) and private collaborators, both nationally and internationally. We have strong regional partnerships with Kansas State, Texas Tech, Texas A&M, and West Texas A&M Universities, among others.
The assignment, as part of an interdisciplinary team, is to conduct individual and team research to improve crop water productivity and nutrient use efficiency for fiber, forage and grain crops of regional importance using innovative irrigation and fertigation application technologies. Through targeted research, the incumbent will utilize novel sensing hardware and software systems to detect spatially and temporally variable crop water stress and nutrient deficiency for site-specific application of water and fertilizer. In addition, the incumbent will conduct supporting research that integrates artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance decision-making for irrigation and fertigation scheduling.
The broad research objective is to develop irrigation and fertigation decision support algorithms and associated sensor systems to improve nutrient use efficiency and crop water productivity with limited water resources under variable weather and a changing climate to sustain crop water productivity and profitability, while improving management of soils and optimizing water and nutrient inputs. Innovative sensors or methods will be developed for remote detection of abiotic/biotic stresses at the field scale, and data will be used for spatial and temporal detection of water and nutrient stressed crops. Algorithms based on data analysis will be integrated into geographic information system enabled decision support systems for irrigation and fertigation scheduling. The algorithms will be developed and coded with reiterative refinement to monitor and characterize abiotic/biotic stress levels, and to develop prescription maps for water and fertilizer input management. These research objectives will be accomplished with novel field experiments and through collaborative research.
Successful research will enhance the agricultural economy, natural resource base, and the environment through site-specific application of water and nutrients. Soil and water resources in cropland will be enhanced through an improved understanding of agronomic productivity, fertility, and irrigation and fertigation strategies. Resulting management techniques will increase the efficiency and profitability of agricultural production in fiber, forage, and grain crops using scientific irrigation and nutrient management methods, and remote sensing technologies. Improved understanding and management of water and nutrients will reduce unnecessary inputs, nutrient loss, and soil erosion, and will protect environmental quality. Development of decision support systems and AI algorithms provide the scientific basis for policy making at the regional scale.
Bushland is a growing community 12 miles west of Amarillo, which is known for its small-town atmosphere. Both are located on Interstate 40 and Historic Route 66 and travel to the mountains of New Mexico and southern Colorado is easy, not to mention the beautiful Palo Duro Canyon. Several staff members live in the Bushland community, although most live in Amarillo with an easy commute to Bushland on I-40. Excellent schools in both communities go through high school. Amarillo College was recognized as the top community college in the nation and has strong ties to West Texas A&M University in nearby Canyon, Texas. Amarillo’s population has grown to 200,000 and serves as a medical and shopping hub for eastern New Mexico, western Oklahoma, and the Texas and Oklahoma Panhandles. With a Civic Center and gorgeous symphony hall (the Amarillo Globe-News Center for the Performing Arts), the Amarillo Symphony just celebrated its 100th anniversary and is better than ever. The thriving art community includes the Arts in the Sunset community arts center for the visual arts, the Amarillo Little Theatre, and the Lone Star Ballet.
Air travel to and from Amarillo is served by several airlines operating out of Rick Husband Amarillo International Airport with easy connections to Austin, Burbank, Denver, Dallas, Houston, etc. on American, Southwest, and United Airlines.
Please share this message with your colleagues who are looking to join a highly dynamic national team making national and international impacts.
Contact: Steven R. Evett, Acting Laboratory Director, Ogallala Aquifer Program Manager
USDA-ARS, PA, Conservation & Production Research Laboratory
300 Simmons Road, Unit 10 (mail address), 2300 Experiment Station Road (physical address), Bushland, Texas 79012
Phone: 806-584-1018
Email: steve.evett@usda.gov
https://www.ars.usda.gov/plains-area/bushland-tx/cprl/
Requirements
See the position posted on USAJobs for information on job requirements:
