Biologist; Postdoctoral Research Fellow

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• Pass Pre-employment Background Check and Subsequent Background Investigation for position designated.
• Complete a Probationary Period.
• Must maintain a bank account for direct deposit/electronic transfer in the United States if they are U.S. citizens, or in Panama if they are third-country nationals assigned to the duty station.
• Applications are invited from qualified candidates regardless of nationality.
• Applicants must meet all qualification and eligibility requirements within 60 days of the closing date of this announcement.
• Official transcripts confirming completion of the PhD must be submitted prior to issuance of a final offer.

The BCI-EDGE project seeks applications for a Biologist Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the area of Evolutionary Genomics at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. This postdoc will be part of BCI-EDGE, a multi-institution project focused on the evolutionary dynamics and genomic ecology of tropical forests, with datasets and analyses from research plots in Panama, including the Barro Colorado Island. The overarching goal is to understand the evolutionary processes that maintain tropical forest diversity.

The project combines whole-genome sequencing, experimental ecology, and more than four decades of spatially explicit demographic data from one of the world’s best-studied tropical forests. Broadly, the project will test how ecological interactions, natural selection, natural enemies, hybridization, and environmental gradients shape genetic diversity, adaptation, and species coexistence in tropical tree communities.

The Biologist Postdoctoral Research Fellow will be based in Panama, support data integration efforts connecting population resequencing, reference genome development, and environmental gradients, and play a central role in analyses of introgression, demographic history, and selection across species. In addition to the scientific priorities, the individual will coordinate, with the help of the Program Coordinator and the Field Collection and Lab teams, field‑based genomic sampling.

This will include 1)coordinating multi-site collections of focal species,2)supporting logistics for tissue sampling and export, and3) ensuring consistency in protocols linking genomic, metabolomic, and environmental datasets. This position will serve as the primary bridge between field operations at STRI and downstream genomic analyses at UC Berkeley.

• Independently conducts research and fieldwork in area of specialization. Research consists of systematically planned, original studies based on fieldwork in specialty area and other institutional and private collections worldwide, and synthesizing information from the literature. Designs and conducts field sampling to measure such variables as species composition and abundance, population size structure, and physiological condition of communities within the incumbent’s area of expertise.
  
  Conducts field and laboratory experiments to determine mechanisms regulating species composition, abundance, distribution, sizes, and physiological condition of biotic communities within the incumbent’s area of expertise.
• Uses various analytical chemistry, spectroscopic,…