Research Assistant

Job Title

Research Assistant

Agency

Texas A&M Agrilife Research

Department

Horticultural Sciences

Proposed Minimum Salary

$3,750.00 monthly

Job Location

College Station, Texas

Job Type

Staff

Job Description

• 50 %: Field Ratings – Performs field ratings of pest presence, disease severity, pecan phenology, and tissue collection in mature and seedling trees.

• 20 %: Image Collection and Analysis – Obtains, organizes, and processes images of pecan trees, nuts, diseases, or pests from orchards or an on-site herbarium.

• 15 %: Data analysis – Leverages statistical, bioinformatic, or software tools to analyze data and images

• 10 %: Preserved Specimen Collection Maintenance – Assists in the inventory, sample preparation, pest management, and maintenance of an herbarium collection of pecan and hickory leaves and nuts.

• 5 %: Performs other duties as assigned.

Required Education and Experience:

• A bachelor’s degree in Horticulture, Plant Pathology, Entomology, Soil & Crop Sciences or a related field. An equivalent combination of education and experience may be considered.

Preferred Experience:

• Possess at least one (1) year of specialized experience participating in agricultural, genetics, or extension research.

Required licenses or certifications:

• Ability to obtain US Driver's license.

Required skills, knowledge or abilities:

• Be able to work under adverse conditions, such as high heat and humidity.

• Manages time effectively and prioritize tasks to meet project deadlines.

• Maintains detailed, accurate Field book/Jupyter notebooks, files, and documentation.

• Exceptional attention to detail to ensure accurate detection and identification of diseases.

• Demonstrate consistency in field ratings using provided rating scales.

• Ability to write reports, present findings, and communicate with scientific colleagues or farmers.

• Ability to lift and carry heavy objects greater than 50 lbs.

• Ability to work well with others.

• Research with fruit/nut tree crops .

• Comfortable working in a Unix and/or R software environment Bioinformatics and/or image analysis software, Fieldbook software.

• Pruning tower operation.

• Herbarium specimen mounting.

• Prepare and mount herbarium specimens for archival.

• Comfortable with manipulating SQL database structures.

• Write and/or run Python scripts to automate tasks.

• Knowledge of diseases, insects, and pests affecting pecans and hickories.

• BSL1+ Lab experience (preferably Genetics or Plant Biology).

Additional requirements:

This position involves regular exposure to tree nuts.

All positions are security-sensitive. Applicants are subject to a criminal history investigation, and employment is contingent upon the institution’s verification of credentials and/or other information required by the institution’s procedures, including the completion of the criminal history check.

Equal Opportunity/Veterans/Disability Employer.