USGS Ecological Statistics Research and Development

U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI)

DOI-USGS-2026-75

11/30/2026 3:00:00 PM Eastern Time Zone

• Applications will be reviewed on a rolling-basis.

A research opportunity is currently available with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), located at Bozeman, Montana.

The USGS mission is to monitor, analyze, and predict current and evolving dynamics of complex human and natural Earth-system interactions and to deliver actionable intelligence at scales and time frames relevant to decision makers. As the Nation's largest water, earth, and biological science and civilian mapping agency, USGS collects, monitors, analyzes, and provides science about natural resource conditions, issues, and problems.

Scientists at the Northern Rocky Mountain Science Center (NOROCK) in Bozeman, Montana conduct research on five general science research themes:
1) Biosurveillance of Biological Threats,
2) Wildlife Disease,
3) Fisheries and Water Resources,
4) Wildlife and Terrestrial Habitat, and
5) Cryosphere Science.

This is an opportunity to train with the Ecological Statistics (Eco Stat) team based out of the Northern Rocky Mountain Science Center in Bozeman, MT. Eco Stat team led and mentored by experienced collaborative research statistician, Dr. Kathryn M. Irvine. Broadly the Eco Stat team engages in applied statistical research motivated by ecological problems relevant to conservation and management of the nation’s natural resources.

Research projects are related to modeling spatial and temporally misaligned datasets in order to understand impacts of White-nose syndrome on bat species in the Western United States, research developing and testing statistical models for bat acoustic data, statistical evaluations of long-term, on-going monitoring of ecological indicators in Greater Everglades and beyond, statistical analyses for complex ecological data, and flexible, probability design creation for natural resource agencies.

Project activities include, but are not restricted to, developing and completing rigorous simulation studies to interrogate assumptions underlying statistical inferences stemming from choice of ecological model and monitoring design components, developing and testing novel statistical techniques that overcome inherent gaps in available methodology for analyzing real-world ecological data, creating transferable and reusable code with accessible documentation for practitioners, and/or visualizations of empirical and modeled results for communication with partners.

Project goals and objectives may include peer-reviewed manuscripts, collaborating on the creation and development of USGS software releases, and/or presenting novel research at professional meetings and conferences.

Under the guidance of a mentor, you will gain experience within a premier natural science research agency and participating in large collaborative science teams. You will learn effective strategies for communicating with diverse science domain experts with varying levels of statistical training, techniques for conveying and explaining complex statistical information for non-statistical researchers, statistical collaboration skills with federal and state agency scientists, and how to pace projects and develop achievable milestones that demonstrate effective applied statistical practice.

You are expected to be trained and become highly competent in statistical and data science skills (specific to your level of education) and the ability to communicate knowledge gaps early and acquire necessary technical skills independently and efficiently.

The mentor…