Research Fellow

Forest Ownership Mapping and Small-area Estimation

 

 

Position Description:

The Family Forest Research Center (FFRC) is seeking a fulltime Research Fellow to lead a new, two-year project to produce a high-resolution forest ownership map of the U.S. and develop techniques for estimating other forest ownership attributes for small areas. The project outcomes will be foundational to the design and implementation of forestry agency programs aimed at safeguarding the sustainability of America’s forests and will provide robust, new data for investigating coupled natural-human systems.

The Research Fellow will create the forest ownership map by combining data from a
geodatabase containing most land parcels in the U.S., as well as remotely sensed data
to determine land cover. The Research Fellow will then use this map and related data sources to develop techniques to generate forest ownership statistics for attributes of interest at the county level or finer resolution. Specific attributes of interest include number of forest ownerships, harvesting behavior, management practices, and other data collected as part of the USDA Forest Service, National Woodland Owner Survey(NWOS; www.fia.fs.fed.us/nwos).

The FFRC is a joint partnership between the University of Massachusetts Amherst and
the USDA Forest Service Northern Research Station, dedicated to increasing our
understanding of family forest owners (www.familyforestresearchcenter.org). The FFRC
is a collaborative organization that benefits from staff and partners with different
specialties and experiences to conduct research and outreach.

Duties:

Working with the FFRC project team, the successful candidate will:
• Lead a new project to develop and create a high-resolution forest ownership map
of the U.S. using a combination of geodata sources

• Develop and implement techniques for processing data from a very large
geospatial database including quantification of land cover for every parcel and
identification of parcels with common ownerships

• Develop and implement techniques for estimating forest ownerships attributes
across small areas (e.g., counties or smaller)

• Deliver the completed ownership map by September 30, 2021

Qualifications:
• Extensive experience with Python or an equivalent programming language

• Experience with GIS techniques and software, including scripting

• Experience with data management and/or high performance computing

• Statistical analysis experience (ideally modeling and estimation)

• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills

• Advanced degree (Masters or Ph.D.) or equivalent experience

• Opportunities exist to structure this position as a post-doc for qualifying
candidates

• Familiarity with family forest related issues is preferred, but is not a prerequisite

Salary: $50,000 per year plus benefits.

Position Timeline: This is a full-time, two-year position. The tentative start date is
September 1, 2020. The FFRC may re-assess continued employment at the end of the
two-year project.

Location: The successful candidate will have the option of working remotely or being
located at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Application: To apply, submit a cover letter, CV/resume, and a list of three references
to bbutler@umass.edu. The position announcement closes on August 1, 2020 and the
tentative start date is September 1, 2020.

For Additional Information: Contact Brett Butler: bbutler@umass.edu; 413-459-1145

The University of Massachusetts is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Institution