Post Doctoral Energy & Climate Researcher (Temporary)

Overview

Company Overview
The Wilderness Society (TWS) is the leading conservation organization working to protect America’s wild places and public lands for the health of local communities, wildlife, and climate. Founded in 1935, and now with more than one million members and supporters, The Wilderness Society has led the effort to permanently protect 111 million acres of wilderness and to ensure the sound management of America’s public lands. TWS is scaling up its work to address the existential threat of climate change, the loss of biodiversity, and deep inequities with access to the benefits of nature. TWS is working to achieve four major collective impact results: protecting 30 percent of America’s lands and waters by 2030, transitioning off of fossil fuel development on public lands to well-sited renewable energy, securing equitable access to public lands and their benefits, and building a critical mass of support for conservation of public lands.

The Wilderness Society recognizes the historical and ongoing injustices perpetrated against Indigenous peoples, particularly those perpetrated by traditional conservation organizations and is committed to being more conscientious and inclusive in our work. This includes working directly with Tribal Nations and Indigenous communities to support conservation outcomes that respect the priorities and concerns of Tribes to ensure a more just and equitable future.

General Description
Nearly one quarter of our nation’s carbon emissions originate from oil, gas, and coal extracted from our federal public lands. New national policies are being developed and implemented to phase out fossil fuels and promote renewable energy on public lands. As we work to reduce the use of fossil fuels and transition to a clean energy economy, conservation scientists are faced with tough challenges such as helping identify where and how to locate utility-scale renewable energy with minimal negative consequences to ecosystems and species. The tension between addressing climate change using new energy sources while conserving natural areas has never been more critical. This demands innovative approaches that reconcile the urgent need for clean energy with the imperative to protect ecosystems and wildlife.

We are looking for an ambitious post-doctoral researcher to help advance the science associated with policies aimed at reducing production of fossil fuels on public lands, increasing renewable energy deployment, and the interface between energy development and conservation of wildland ecosystems. The post-doc will be an important member of our science team, which is made up of ecologists, wildlife biologists, and geographers with diverse expertise. The post-doc will serve as the lead for analyses on energy development on public lands of the United States and will work with the Senior Science Director and Director of Research to develop research questions that fit the post-doc’ s interests and expertise. Example questions include:

• What are the impacts on lifecycle emissions of certain policies to both reduce fossil fuel production on federal public lands and increase renewable energy deployment?
• What are the ecological consequences of energy development (fossil fuels and renewables) on public lands?
• What are the carbon benefits of renewable energy given the potential ecological tradeoffs?
• What are guiding principles for locating renewable energy development that minimizes ecological tradeoffs?
• How do we compare tradeoffs and benefits of different energy development proposals (given full carbon life-cycle analyses) on public lands?

The position relies on extensive professional knowledge and technical skills to independently complete a range of projects and responsibilities including conducting scientific research, organizing and sharing geospatial datasets, applying analytical tools in support of conservation, and authoring reports and publications. The position will lead geospatial and other analyses to identify and deepen our understanding of energy development on publics lands of the United States by 1 ) acquiring, organizing, and developing spatial and tabular databases on public lands available for oil and gas leasing, 2) estimating the avoided carbon emissions associated with production of renewable energy and cancelled future oil and gas development, 3) conducting and publishing analyses concerning renewable energy development, 4) conducting analyses to ensure that renewable energy development is located on lands or in ways where ecological values are not compromised, and 5) disseminating results in presentations, reports, and publications. This individual will also work closely with teams across TWS, including the Climate Advocacy, Government Relations, Legal, and Communications teams, who will use their analysis to advocate for policies to reduce carbon emissions from federal public lands.

This position plays an important role in supporting an inclusive organizational culture that is grounded in trust and accountability to shared goals and outcomes. TWS has made diversity, equity, and inclusion strategic priorities for the organization and the post-doctoral researcher will integrate these priorities throughout their work. Across our team, we aspire to be campaign oriented, nimble, collaborative, innovative, transparent, and supportive of staff – our greatest asset.

Essential Duties & Responsibilities

• Conducts research and develops scientific reports and peer-reviewed papers focusing on energy development on public lands, including oil and gas leasing and development (and the carbon-emissions implications) and ecologically based siting of renewable energy projects.
• Conducts analyses with the science team and interdisciplinary climate and energy teams.
• Communicates research, analytical findings, and policy recommendations to government agencies, elected officials, conservation partners, and other audiences.
• Uses scientific research and information to help influence national -level policy issues and landscape outcomes.
• Works closely with other program staff to develop and integrate scientific program goals and priorities into campaigns to influence management of wildlands and priority landscapes.
• Participates in organizational committees and conferences.
• Other duties as assigned.

QUALIFICATIONS
Experience, Competencies, and Education

• PhD in ecology, conservation biology, economics, geography, or related field;
• Experience working with diverse types of geospatial data and models;
• Experience analyzing data, writing up results, and publishing scientific manuscripts;
• Proficiency using ArcGIS and/or QGIS software for a variety of data management and analysis tasks;
• Programming or coding experience in R, Python, or other software packages;
• Strong organizational and data management skills;
• Ability to work independently and on a team;
• Ability to stay on schedule and meet deadlines;
• Ability to work successfully in teams and with people representing a rich mix of talent, backgrounds, and perspectives—across race and gender;
• Ability to work with interdisciplinary team of scientists and non-scientists to clearly communicate technic al information to diverse audiences.

In addition to essential job qualifications TWS is looking for candidates who embody the following core competencies:

• Cultural Competency & Inclusion: Demonstrates ability to work collaboratively with individuals that hold differing group identities.
• Self-Awareness: Understands how to use feedback and reflection to gain productive insight into personal strengths and weaknesses.
• Collaboration: Consistently works collaboratively to achieve high-quality results and values the opinions, ideas, and expertise of others.
• Effective Communication: Demonstrated ability to actively listen and clearly expresses thoughts, information, views, and ideas using both formal and informal methods.

This job description is intended to convey information essential to understanding the scope of this position and it is not intended to be an exhaustive list of experience, skills, efforts, duties, responsibilities or working conditions associated with the position.

This is a temporary position with funding until 9/30/2025 with possible extension depending on funding availability. The salary range for this position is $70,000 to $75,000 depending on experience and location. This position can be done from a TWS office (where applicable) or remote work from the following states : AK, AZ, CA, CO, CT, DC, HI, ID, IL, ME, MD, MI, MN, MT, NV, NM, NY, NC, OR, OH, PA, SC, TN, TX, VA and WI.  Please submit resume and cover letter by Sunday, 11/17/2024.

The Wilderness Society offers a competitive salary and benefits package, including: health, dental, vision, life and disability insurance; sick and vacation leave; a sabbatical program; and a retirement plan. TWS is an equal opportunity employer and actively works to ensure fair treatment of our employees and constituents across culture, socioeconomic status, race, marital or family situation, gender, age, ethnicity, religious beliefs, physical ability, veteran status or sexual orientation.

As an organization, we aspire to being inclusive in the work that we do, and in the kind of organization we are. Internally this means working as a team that listens to different points of view, recognizes the contributions of every employee and empowers each employee to bring their whole selves to work every day. Externally this means ensuring that public lands are inclusive and welcoming, so that our shared wildlands can help people and nature to thrive. We are committed to equity throughout our work, which we define as our commitment to realizing the promise of our public lands and ensuring that all can share in their universal benefits.

To learn more about our commitment, please see http://wilderness.org/our-commitment-diversity-equity-and-inclusion-wilderness-society

Tagged as: PHD, research