Postdoctoral opportunities

[Robert K. Peet]

Postdoctoral opportunities in Biological Classification and Nomenclature.


We seek two postdoctoral fellows to participate in a large, NSF and
Mellon-funded Information Technology Research (ITR) Project directed at
development of a technology framework for data discovery, integration, and
visualization for biodiversity research.  The persons in these positions
will be involved specifically in development of standards, methods, and
software tools for representing and utilizing biological nomenclature and
classification information.  Even though the rules of taxonomy are quite
specific, taxonomic understanding is dynamic, leading to constant changes
in the taxonomic entities, the names applied to those entities, and their
phylogenetic relationships.  Consequently, taxonomic concepts and the
application of names to those concepts vary through time and with the
authority employed.  Effective integration of data from diverse sources
requires that the multiple and overlapping taxonomic concepts be tracked,
as well as the multiple names that have been applied to them. We envision
that the need for data integration will reshape the way organisms are
reported in biodiversity and ecological data and publications, and the way
biological taxonomists and ecologists conduct, report, and disseminate
their research.  Developing this link between ecology, systematics, and
informatics is crucial to developing effective and useful ecological
informatics tools.

The postdoctoral researchers are expected to collaborate closely with the
principal investigators and project software engineers, be productive,
flexible, highly organized, and creative. The postdocs will work directly
with researchers at the National Center for Ecological Analysis and
Synthesis (U.C. Santa Barbara) and the University of North Carolina, and
will be located at one of these institutions.

A PhD in some field of Ecology, Systematics, Environmental Science, or
Computer Science is required.  Excellent communication and interpersonal
skills are critical.  Frequent travel is required.  Strong background in
biological systematics, software development, and database skills is
desired.

Review of applications will begin June 28 and continue until the positions
are filled.  Interested applicants should submit: (1) a statement of how
her/his educational and research experience qualify the applicant for
the position, (2) recent curriculum vitae, and (3) two letters of
recommendation.  Electronic submissions in PDF format are preferred.
Send applications and at least two letters of recommendations to
peet at unc.edu. Send mailed submissions to Robert K. Peet, Dept. of
Biology, CB#3280, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC
27599-3280  USA, 919-962-6942, peet at unc.edu.

Additional information about the project is available at
"http://seek.ecoinformatics.org".

The University of California and the University of North Carolina are
Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employers.


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 Robert K. Peet, Professor              Phone:  919-962-6942
 Department of Biology, CB#3280         Fax:    919-962-6930
 University of North Carolina           Cell:   919-368-4971
 Chapel Hill, NC  27599-3280  USA       Email:  peet at unc.edu

             http://www.bio.unc.edu/faculty/peet/

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