Research Assistant, Plants of Concern, FPCC

Chicago Botanic Garden • Glencoe, IL

34d • Onsite

About The Position

The Plants of Concern Research Assistant assignment will be 25-week, 40 hr/week position beginning in mid-April, involves monitoring rare plants in the Forest Preserves of Cook County (FPCC) through the Plants of Concern (POC) program, a widely recognized community science program. The position is based at the Chicago Botanic Garden.  Duties include collecting field monitoring data, helping recruit and train volunteer monitors, entering/analyzing monitoring data, including GIS applications, and assisting with reports. The Research Assistant will have the opportunity to present accomplished work at a Plants of Concern volunteer event. 2-3 days of weekend work possible.

Requirements

• Bachelor of Science 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

• Develop schedule for fieldwork
• Recruit, engage, train, organize, and support community science volunteers
• Act as liaison between FPCC ecologists and stewards and POC staff regarding plant locations and volunteer assignments
• Conduct rare plant monitoring field work with volunteers and independently within the Forest Preserves of Cook County
• Conduct research project as directed by FPCC staff
• Organize and enter data
• Complete data entry and analysis on multi-year dataset (using R statistical software)
• Follow up with volunteers regarding report submission
• Follow up with site stewards on land management activities
• Present accomplishments at a volunteer event
• 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 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