A postdoctoral position is available with the Soil Microbiology Lab at the University of Florida/IFAS Southwest Florida Research and Education Center (SWFREC) in Immokalee, FL, to examine the relationships between soil microorganisms, soil health, and production in citrus and vegetable agroecosystems. The SWFREC is in the heart of citrus and vegetable production in Florida and provides a unique opportunity to explore both basic and applied scientific research questions.

Research areas include examining the impact of cover crops in citrus orchards on the soil microbiome and potential impacts on citrus production. In addition, research opportunities exist to examine the role of fumigants on the non-target soil microbiome and vegetable production. All projects will focus on interactions between microbial community composition, soil chemistry, root growth, and plant growth, and determining if treatments have specific impacts on the soil microbiome. Expertise in environmental microbial ecology, molecular methods, including high-throughput amplicon sequencing and qPCR, and bioinformatics is required.

The incumbent will develop hypotheses based on current literature, design and conduct experiments, perform work in the laboratory and field, analyze data, prepare manuscripts for publication in peer-reviewed journals, and present at scientific conferences. The postdoctoral associate will work independently with minimal supervision. This is a 2-year position.

Minimum qualifications:

  • PhD in bioinformatics, environmental microbiology, microbial ecology, or biogeochemistry
  • Expertise in bioinformatics for environmental microbiology
  • Experience with bash scripts/command line
  • Evidence of effective scientific writing and publication in English
  • Valid driver’s license

Preferred qualifications: Experience in soil microbiology, proficiency with R and QIIME2, proficiency in programming (python)

Interested persons should only submit a cover letter, curriculum vitae, and contact information for 3 references, to Dr. Sarah Strauss (strauss@ufl.edu). Please submit materials in pdf format.

Application deadline:
Start date: Open until filled
Location: University of Florida/IFAS Southwest Florida Research and Education Center, Immokalee, FL, USA