Physical Scientist (Computational)
Summary
This position is located with United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Agricultural Research Service (ARS), Pacific West Area (PWA), Sustainable Agricultural Water Systems (SAWS) Research Unit in Davis, CA and will participate as a member of the SAWS scientific team to assist in organizing and managing data from laboratory, plot, field, and remotely sensed projects.
Duties
- Assists and participates in a wide range of activities at the interface between SAWS scientists and the unit-level databases.
- Assists in production and availability of consistent and complete metadata.
- Assists in reviewing the resulting data for completeness and accuracy.
- Assists in analyzing and summarizing the resulting data.
- Participates in unit?s data management innovation and improvements and works with leadership and scientists across ARS, and other networks, to identify, develop, and implement strategies for future data use.
Requirements
Conditions of Employment
- You must be a US Citizen or US National
- Males born after 12/31/1959 must be Selective Service registered or exempt
- Subject to satisfactory adjudication of background investigation and/or fingerprint check
- Successful completion of one-year probationary period, unless previously served.
- Direct Deposit: Per Public Law 104-134 all Federal employees are required to have federal payments made by direct deposit to their financial institution
- Successfully pass the E-Verify employment verification check. To learn more about E-Verify, including your rights and responsibilities, visit E-Verify at https://www.e-verify.gov/
Qualifications
Applicants must meet all qualifications and eligibility requirements by the closing date of the announcement including specialized experience and/or education, as defined below.
Basic Requirements:
Degree: physical science, engineering, or mathematics that included 24 semester hours in physical science and/or related engineering science such as mechanics, dynamics, properties of materials, and electronics.
OR
Combination of education and experience -- education equivalent to one of the majors shown in A above that included at least 24 semester hours in physical science and/or related engineering science, plus appropriate experience or additional education.
In addition to meeting the basic requirements, applicants must also meet additional qualification requirements as stated below.
Specialized experience is experience directly related to the position to be filled and provided the applicant with the knowledge, skills and abilities needed to perform the duties of the position.
Specialized Experience: The qualification requirements for this position at the GS-09 grade level includes one-year specialized experience at the GS-07 grade level, or its non-Federal equivalent, developing or maintaining database management protocol and quality assurance thresholds; and utilizing a geographic information system to analyze and review geospatial or geographic data; and utilizing open-source computer programming language to analyze and process spatial datasets.
OR
Education: 2 years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to a master's degree or master's or equivalent graduate degree, agronomy, geography, geology, earth science, environmental science, atmospheric science, soil science, or hydrology.
OR
A qualifying combination of graduate education and experience as described above.
Experience refers to paid and unpaid experience, including volunteer work done through National Service programs (e.g., Peace Corps, AmeriCorps) and other organizations (e.g., professional; philanthropic; religious; spiritual; community, student, social). Volunteer work helps build critical competencies and can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience.
Education
Please see above for education qualification requirement information.