Job Title

Postdoctoral Research Associate

Agency

Texas A&M Agrilife Research

Department

Horticultural Sciences

Proposed Minimum Salary

Commensurate

Job Location

College Station, Texas

Job Type

Staff

Job Description

Required Education: Doctoral Degree in related field

Preferred Experience: Experience in research related to ‘foods for health’

Responsibilities

• Lead and coordinate lab activities, including scheduling, parts and supplies requisition, access, safety and compliance.

• Conduct experiments linking bioactives, whole food and microbiota

• Perform preventive maintenance on laboratory equipment as needed to keep them in optimal working condition.

• Perform record keeping and quality assurance activities to maintain laboratory certification.

• Conduct experiments related to identifying metabolites in plant and biological samples. Develop and conduct research projects related to systems-wide approach to increase consumption of vegetable and fruits and ‘foods for health’.

• Required to work on research teams and collaborate with other experts to achieve the targeted goal of melon integrated project.

• Required to conduct field trials and must be ready to travel within Texas to conduct field trials.

• Participate in grant writing, and collaborative research activities leading to peer reviewed publications.

• Work with plant disease samples and have complete understanding of diseases and pests of vegetables and fruits and their relationship with potential metabolites.

• Conduct experiments related to use of nanotechnology in agriculture at field and green house.

• Impeccable record keeping and troubleshooting skills of instruments and conduct field experiments.

• Responsible for conducting and maintaining records of experiments. Lab safety and related duties and responsibilities.

• Develop and conduct research projects such as analysis and method development of bioactive compounds. Investigate changes of bioactive compounds during the postharvest handling processes.

• Work with industry partners and collect samples from field from different locations in Texas.

• Train undergraduates, graduate students, and visiting scientists.

• Conduct hands-on training based on need and develop short courses. Responsible for writing external and internal grant proposals, manuscripts for publication in peer-reviewed journals and reports.

• Any duties assigned by the Director of the Vegetable and Fruit Improvement Center (http://vfic.tamu.edu) based on the specific need.

• Other duties as required.

Required Knowledge Skills and Abilities:

• Excellent oral and written communication skills.

• Design experiments independently for the research with limited assistance

• Demonstrate competency with laboratory work and use of analytical instrumentation.

• Record of accomplishment of peer-reviewed publications and scholarly work in the related areas.

• Ability to work in a fast-paced environment with firm deadlines

• Ability to maintain analytical instrumentation and troubleshoot problems when necessary.

• Ability to write standard operating procedures and demonstrate the ability to follow procedures.

• Ability to work effectively in a team environment

• Ability to multi-task and work cooperatively with others.

• Ability to prepare safety and equipment use manuals and analytical methods as needed.

• Ability to communicate constructively with other scientists and collaborators.

• Proficient in Microsoft Office (Including Excel, Word, Outlook, etc.)

• Ability to maintain laboratory instrumentation and follow applicable safety standards.

• Ability to work evening and/or weekend hours as needed.

Preferred Knowledge Skills and Abilities:

• Interpret analytical data from LC/MS, GC-MS, Raman spectroscopy, and NMR instrumentation and apply understanding to solving the specific problem.

• Identification, Characterization, Quantitation and Metabolic profiling of Bioactive Natural Products in Plants

• Experience in identifying metabolites in biological samples.

• Sufficient knowledge in statistical analysis tools such as SAS, R, XLstat, Multivariate analysis etc)

• Ability to manage lab group, maintaining supplies and inventory.

• Ability to perform assay development for new compounds and ingredients

• Ability to participate in analyzing and disseminating data results as part of participation in group meetings, prepare manuscripts, periodic reports, scientific papers/presentations and grant proposals.

• Ability to provide advice and assistance to other members of the laboratory and mentor graduate and undergraduate students.

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/Affirmative Action/Veterans/Disability Employer.

As the largest comprehensive agriculture and life sciences program nationally, Texas A&M AgriLife brings together a college and four state agencies within the Texas A&M University System With over 5,000 employees, and a presence in every county across the state, Texas A&M AgriLife is uniquely positioned to improve lives, the environment, and the economy of Texas and the nation through education, research, extension and service.If your goal is the pursuit of excellence and your vision is to make a difference in this world, we invite you to explore our opportunities to discover what a career at Texas A&M AgriLife has to offer you.

Texas A&M AgriLife is comprised of the following Texas A&M University System members:

• Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service (https://agrilife.tamu.edu/agency/extension-home/)

• Texas A&M AgriLife Research

• College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Texas A&M University (https://agrilife.tamu.edu/agency/college-home/)

• Texas A&M Forest Service

• Texas A&M Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory (https://agrilife.tamu.edu/agency/tvmdl-home/)

  Texas A&M AgriLife collaborates with Prairie View A&M University, Tarleton State University, Texas A&M University-Commerce, Texas A&M University-Kingsville and West Texas A&M University as well as with other public and private partners.

• Prospective employee benefits

• Retirement programs

• Commitment to inclusive excellence (https://agrilife.tamu.edu/about/diversity-inclusion/)

• Strategic plan