Plant Mounter

A cover letter is required for consideration for this position and should be attached as the first page of your resume. The cover letter should address your specific interest in the position and outline skills and experience that directly relate to this position.

WHO WE ARE
The Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology (EEB) is seeking a Plant Mounter at the University of Michigan Herbarium, located at the new Research Museums Center (RMC) in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The Herbarium develops and maintains collections explicitly for use in research and education, benefiting science, society, and the university  scientific role of the Herbarium is to train students and engage in systematic biology and biodiversity studies.

These broad and overlapping fields entail the discovery and study of the diversity of organisms, their evolutionary relationships, and the processes that generate biodiversity. EEB has an outstanding, diverse, and collaborative group of researchers in evolutionary biology, ecology, and biodiversity science.

The U-M Herbarium is worldwide in its geographic scope and is the second largest public university collection in North America, comprising about 1.75 million specimens. The collection is particularly strong in Michigan and the Great Lakes region, Mexico, and southeast Asia (esp. Sumatra, Philippines) and includes major holdings from all major plant and fungal groups.

WHO YOU ARE
Reporting to the Research Collection Manager, the plant mounter will help to execute the herbarium’s specimen preparation and processing plan. The successful candidate will be curious about science and botanical diversity, and a skilled specimen preparator with the ability to produce research-quality herbarium specimens, and will assist the Collection Managers with pre- and post-mounting tasks. Responsibilities primarily include mounting plant specimens, but will also include collection support, supervision, and training.

• Use knowledge of plant morphology and identification techniques to prepare high-quality research specimens using various methods (e.g., gluing, strapping, and sewing)
• Maintain the organization and mounting of room cabinets and the flow of specimens through the mounting process
• Place mounted specimens in the freezer for pest control and remove after freeze fumigation treatment
• Move specimens to the next location for digitization (barcoding, imaging, database entry)
• Maintain inventory of mounting supplies and let collection managers know when items are needed
• Maintain and update mounting and training documentation/materials as needed

Collection Support

• Assist the Collection Managers with pre- and post-mounting tasks
• Make labels from the digital data provided with specimens
• Enter and track specimen accessions in the database after they have been approved by the registrar and collection manager for deposition into the research collection
• Enter information (e.g., date completed) in the database when an accession is complete

Supervision and Training

• Train student/part-time workers in all aspects of plant mounting
• Assign priority specimens to be mounted to student/part-time workers, including finding the physical accession in the backlog, and placing them in cabinets
• Provide quality assurance of student/part-time workers’ specimens

Additional Responsibilities

• Other duties as needed

This position remains on their feet for a majority of the shift to perform essential job functions, such as using a ladder, and moving moderately heavy objects for installation, weighing up to 45lbs (5-gallon bucket of glue, boxes of mounting paper, etc.). Basic knowledge of plant collecting practices, plant morphology and diversity, and herbarium procedures is required. Computer competencies, including the Microsoft Office suite (Word and Excel) and basic databases, are required.

Experience with crafts and working with one’s hands. Ability to maintain an average mounting rate of 20-25 minutes per specimen (c. 5,000 specimens/year). Ability to train and supervise students and part-time workers in plant mounting and to review their work for quality control.

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