Junior Research Assistant

Santa Clara University•Santa Clara, CA

3d•Hybrid

About The Position

Geospatial lab and field assistant to support assessments of water use and water contamination in the Central Valley and the Central Coast, under the Rose Foundation project “Assessing nitrate and metal contamination in drinking water for historically marginalized communities in the Central Valley and along the Central Coast of California”. and the Next10 funded project “How does the rapid rise in data centers for generative AI impact water availability in California’s most vulnerable regions?”. All of the areas below will be conducted under the direction and guidance of the supervisor.

Requirements

Basic knowledge of field work, including techniques for well water sampling.
Knowledge of ethics procedures in the context of conducting research with human subjects (IRB protocols).
General knowledge of water flow, water contamination, and water resource management in California (i.e. has taken ENVS 160 Water Resources or similar course).
Experience in ArcGIS, R coding, and data visualization.
Strong writing and critical thinking skills.
Good organizational skills and comfort working with community residents.
Ability to work independently once instructions and guidance are received.
Ability to follow established lab protocols.
Ability to work cooperatively as part of a research team, including regular progress reports to supervisor and other members of the Water and Climate Justice lab.
Keep detailed records of work in shared drive.
Ability to drive and visit field places.
1 year of undergraduate research experience required.

Nice To Haves

B.S. degree in environmental studies or sciences, or closely aligned field, preferred.

Responsibilities

Participate in field work, collecting water samples from wells, interviewing residents, conducting archival research.
Contribute to geospatial analysis tasks, including generating interpolation and interactive maps, trend analysis, visualizations, story maps.
Conduct searches of the scientific literature at the request of the supervisor and summarize findings, including posting articles to online repositories.
Summarize findings from the Water and Climate Justice lab for articles and reports.
Follow instructions, safety and ethical protocols.
Identify and determine cause of problems; develop and present recommendations for improvement of established processes and practices.
Maximize productivity through use of appropriate tools.
Research and develop resources that create timely and efficient workflow.
Prepare progress reports, inform supervisor of project status and deviation from goals.
Ensure completeness, accuracy and timeliness of all operational functions.
Prepare and submit written or oral reports as requested and required.
Develop and implement standard operating procedures to support the functions of the laboratory.
Perform data collection tasks efficiently and with precision.