Assistant/Associate Professor – Fresh-Water Fish & Habitat Management

University of Florida•Gainesville, FL

About The Position

The Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences [http://ifas.ufl.edu] is creating an environment that affirms community across all dimensions. If an accommodation due to a disability is needed to apply for this position, please call 352-392-2477 or the Florida Relay System at 800-955-8771 (TDD) or visit Accessibility at UF [https://hr.ufl.edu/manager-resources/recruitment-staffing/institutional-equity-diversity/ada-and-accessibility-services-for-uf-employees-and-job-applicants/] . This is a 9 month tenure-accruing position that will be 40% teaching (College of Agricultural and Life Sciences), and 60% research (Florida Agricultural Experiment Station), available in the School of Forest, Fisheries, and Geomatic Sciences, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, at the University of Florida. This assignment may change in accordance with the needs of the unit. Duties will include Research: Focus on freshwater fisheries ecology and management across Florida’s diverse aquatic habitats, including lakes, ponds, rivers, springs, estuaries, and constructed ecosystems. Potential areas of emphasis include fish habitat and stock management, population ecology, ecosystem health, land use impacts, eutrophication, total maximum daily loads (TMDLs) of nutrients, invasive species, hydrologic change, minimum flows and levels (MFLs), and sustainable resource management. This research will contribute to UF/IFAS priorities in resilient water resources, ecosystem health, and sustainable fisheries management. The successful candidate will engage in scholarly activities related to instruction, including teaching undergraduate and/or graduate courses, advising and mentoring undergraduate and graduate students, participating in curriculum revision and enhancement, seeking funding for the teaching program, supervising undergraduate and graduate research and creative work, publishing teaching-related scholarship, producing learning tools, and engaging in professional development activities related to teaching and advising. Teaching responsibilities include: Applied Fisheries Statistics – A combined undergraduate/graduate course offered annually, emphasizing statistical methods and data analysis in fisheries. Builds foundational R skills while covering applied topics such as mark-recapture, CPUE standardization, creel and telemetry data analysis, and GLMs tailored to fisheries datasets. Field Techniques for Aquatic Research – A hands-on undergraduate course introducing students to core field methods used in both freshwater and marine environments. The incumbent will lead this collaboratively taught course covering sampling design and methods, environmental monitoring, and analytical techniques across aquatic systems. Advanced Topics in Fisheries Science – A graduate-level course developed and taught by the incumbent, focusing on specialized research areas aligned with their expertise. Offered annually, the course will emphasize interdisciplinary approaches to contemporary issues in fisheries science. Potential topics include Fish Habitat and Population Ecology; Managing Recreational Fishing Resources; Lakes, Rivers, and Ponds in a Growing State; The Freshwater-Marine Continuum: New Challenges for Coastal Environments and Resources. The faculty member will seek contract and grant funding actively to support their program. The faculty member will engage in Extension activities in their program area. Collectively, these courses address key quantitative, field-based, and interdisciplinary training needs and employer expectations across the FAS and Marine Sciences curricula. Faculty are encouraged to support and participate in the CALS Honors Program, distance education, and international education. Because of the IFAS land-grant mission, all faculty are expected to be supportive of and engaged in all three mission areas—Research, Teaching and Extension—regardless of the assignment split specified in the position description. The faculty member will participate actively in undergraduate education and graduate education by chairing graduate committees, serving on graduate committees, supervising thesis and dissertation research, supervising undergraduate research, and publishing the results with their graduate students. Background Information: The School of Forest, Fisheries, and Geomatics Sciences (SFFGS) has teaching, research, and Extension education programs in three broad areas: Geomatics; Forest Resources and Conservation; and Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences. The SFFGS has 70 faculty members, 60 administrative and programmatic staff, 250 graduate students, and 350 undergraduate students. The School offers bachelor’s degrees in Geomatics, Forest Resources and Conservation, Natural Resource Conservation, and Marine Sciences; thesis and non-thesis master’s degrees in all focal areas, including a number of innovative distance education master’s programs; and Ph.D. degrees in all focal areas. The School is committed to supporting work-life balance, and creating an environment that promotes and supports a welcoming faculty, student body, and overall workforce within the School. The University of Florida [http://www.ufl.edu/] is a Land-Grant, Sea-Grant, and Space-Grant institution, encompassing virtually all academic and professional disciplines, with an enrollment of more than 56,000 students. UF is a member of The Association of American Universities. The Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences [http://ifas.ufl.edu] includes the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences [http://cals.ufl.edu/], the Florida Agricultural Experiment Station [http://research.ifas.ufl.edu/], the Florida Cooperative Extension Service [https://sfyl.ifas.ufl.edu/], the College of Veterinary Medicine [http://www.vetmed.ufl.edu/], the Florida Sea Grant [http://www.flseagrant.org/] program, and encompasses 16 on-campus academic departments and schools, 12 Research and Educational Centers (REC) located throughout the state, 6 Research sites/demonstration units administered by RECs or academic departments, and Florida Cooperative Extension Service offices in all 67 counties (counties operate and maintain). The School of Natural Resources and Environment is an interdisciplinary unit housed in IFAS and managed by several colleges on campus. UF/IFAS employs nearly 4,500 people, which includes approximately 990 salaried faculty and 1,400 permanent support personnel located in Gainesville and throughout the state. IFAS, one of the nation’s largest agricultural and natural resources research and education organizations, is administered by a Vice President and four deans: the Dean of the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, the Dean for Extension and Director of the Florida Cooperative Extension Service, the Dean for Research and Director of the Florida Agricultural Experiment Station, and the Dean for the College of Veterinary Medicine. UF/IFAS also engages in cooperative work with Florida A&M University in Tallahassee.

Requirements

A doctorate (foreign equivalent acceptable) in Fisheries Sciences or a closely related discipline is required.
Candidates should have demonstrated skills in verbal and written communication, interpersonal relationships, and procurement of extramural funding.
Candidates must be supportive of the mission of the Land-Grant system.
Candidates must also have a commitment to UF core values

Nice To Haves

Postdoctoral experience is desirable.

Responsibilities

Research: Focus on freshwater fisheries ecology and management across Florida’s diverse aquatic habitats, including lakes, ponds, rivers, springs, estuaries, and constructed ecosystems.
Teach undergraduate and/or graduate courses
Advise and mentor undergraduate and graduate students
Participate in curriculum revision and enhancement
Seek funding for the teaching program
Supervise undergraduate and graduate research and creative work
Publish teaching-related scholarship
Produce learning tools
Engage in professional development activities related to teaching and advising
Seek contract and grant funding actively to support their program
Engage in Extension activities in their program area
Chair graduate committees
Serve on graduate committees
Supervise thesis and dissertation research
Supervise undergraduate research
Publish the results with their graduate students.