CIRES/Earth Lab and ESIIL Temporary Researcher
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Job Summary
Earth Lab at the University of Colorado seeks a Temporary Researcher to provide support for a diverse set of projects related to the impacts of wildfire spread on the wildland urban interface. Responsibilities will include working with fire scientists and remote sensing experts to analyze fire spread and evacuation data. The Temporary Researcher will work with Dr. Jennifer Balch, a leading fire ecologist, and the Director of the Environmental Data Science Innovation and Impact Lab (ESIIL).
The successful candidate will possess at least a Bachelor’s degree in the natural sciences, geography, or related GIS field; a high level of attention to detail; and experience analyzing data using ArcGIS Pro, QGIS, R, and/or python.
Who We Are
CIRES is an internationally recognized leader in innovative environmental science and research and is located at the University of Colorado Boulder. At CIRES, more than 950 environmental science professionals work to understand the dynamic Earth system, including people’s relationship with the planet. CIRES has partnered with NOAA since 1967, and our areas of expertise include weather and climate, changes at Earth’s poles, air quality and atmospheric chemistry, water resources, solid Earth sciences, and more. Our vision is to be instrumental in ensuring a sustainable future environment by advancing scientific and societal understanding of the Earth system.
What Your Key Responsibilities Will Be
Work with Earth Lab and ESIIL scientists to use remotely-sensed and incident command report data to quantify wildfire spread and evacuation consequences in the wildland-urban interface (WUI) across the Western US.
What You Should Know
- This is a temporary three-month position funded at 50% time.
- This is a temporary position, and the employee is ineligible for benefits other than those required by law. The employee accrues 0.034 hours of sick leave for every hour worked.
What We Can Offer
The hourly pay for this position is $28.00 per hour.
Benefits
Be Statements
What We Require
- Bachelor's degree in natural sciences, geography, or GIS field.
- 0-1 years of experience working in natural science, geography, or GIS field or related education experience.
What You Will Need
- Proficiency in GIS and knowledge of related software including the ESRI suite and/or QGIS.
- Working knowledge of open source programming and version control languages and programs (e.g., R, python, GitHub).
- Proficiency in Microsoft Office suite.
- Experience working with collaboration software (e.g., Google docs and sheets).
What We Would Like You to Have
- Background in Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and applying GIS knowledge to wildfire spread and evacuations.
- Basic knowledge of fire science/spread principles.
- Interest in understanding spatial spread of wildfire into the WUI.
- Experience analyzing spatial data.
- Experience working with large datasets.
- Experience collaborating with large groups.
- Good oral and written communication skills.
- Excellent attention to detail.
Special Instructions
To apply, please submit the following materials:
- Resume or CV.
- Letter of Recommendation (We will get in touch with the reference provided to submit a letter of recommendation if you are a finalist).
If you are selected as the finalist, your degree will be verified by the CU Boulder Campus Human Resources department using an approved online vendor. If your degree was obtained outside of the United States, please submit a translated version as an optional attachment.
This position will close on July 9, 2025.
Note: Application materials will not be accepted via email. For consideration, applications must be submitted through CU Boulder Jobs.
Posting Contact Information
Posting Contact Name: Boulder Campus Human Resources
Posting Contact Email: Recruiting@colorado.edu