Plants of Concern Research Assistant, Midewin

Chicago Botanic Garden • Glencoe, IL

25d • Hybrid

About The Position

As part of a cooperative program with Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie, Plants of Concern is recruiting for a seasonal research assistant.

This approximately 25-week, 40-hour/week position beginning in late April involves a suite of studies on rare plants at Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie, including those restricted to the unique dolomite prairie habitat. The Midewin program is part of a broader Plants of Concern regional rare plant monitoring program. The research assistant will travel to Midewin, near Joliet, Illinois, and nearby sites for approximately 30 days of field work. The remaining time will be spent working at the Chicago Botanic Garden and remotely.

Field duties involve recruiting, training, coordinating, and working with volunteers to monitor selected species through demographic study, censusing, sampling,
and photo points. Office duties include data entry and statistical analysis, report writing, and GIS applications. The research assistant will have the opportunity to present accomplished work at Plants of Concern volunteer and stakeholder events. Two to three days of weekend work possible.

Requirements

• Bachelor of science degree in ecology, botany, biological sciences, or related background
• Plant ID skills, including use of a dichotomous key
• Field experience in plant monitoring or field research
• Love of outdoor work
• Experience with Microsoft Office suite, particularly Excel, Word, and PowerPoint
• Excellent organizational skills
• Interest in working with community science volunteers
• Ability to work well independently as well as on a team
• Ability to communicate effectively with a large, diverse group of volunteers and staff
• A driver’s license and access to a personal vehicle
• Availability for occasional weekend work

Nice To Haves

• Basic statistical and GIS software experience (R & ArcGIS experience a plus)

Responsibilities

• Get trained in Plants of Concern protocol for rare plant monitoring through online and field training.
• Develop or modify field datasheets for species-specific data collection.
• Become oriented to Midewin monitoring sites and familiar with data to be collected.
• Develop schedule for fieldwork.
• Engage, train, organize, and support community science volunteers.
• Conduct rare plant monitoring field work with volunteers and assist with other Midewin data collection, as necessary.
• Organize and enter data.
• Complete data entry and analysis on multi-year dataset (using R statistical software).
• Organize and catalog monitoring and other photos (digital format).
• Work with supervisor on annual report to submit to granting agency.

Benefits

• Wellness initiative benefit, Employee Assistance Program (EAP), Retirement plan
• Holidays, Holiday Thank you pay
• Garden membership - free to employees at Household Plus level
• Discounts to Garden Shop, Cafe, Garden-sponsored educational classes
• Employee events such as Orchid show, Night of 1,000 Jack-o'-Lanterns, Lightscape employee & friends preview night

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Entry Level
• Number of Employees: 501-1,000 employees