Postdoctoral Remote Sensing Scientist

Cherokee Federal • Lafayette, LA

2d • Onsite

About The Position

Cherokee United Services is seeking a Postdoctoral Remote Sensing Scientist in Lafayette, Louisiana. This role advances research on coastal wetland change and ecosystem responses to extreme events at landscape, regional, and global scales.

Requirements

• Doctoral degree in geography or a closely related field required or strongly preferred.
• Academic emphasis or demonstrated expertise in GIS, remote sensing, landscape ecology, coastal wetlands, environmental science, geography, or a related discipline required.
• One to three years of experience working in a scientific or research setting preferred.
• Demonstrated experience developing, processing, analyzing, and interpreting remote-sensing data products required.
• Experience using GIS, spatial analysis, geospatial datasets, satellite or aerial imagery, and environmental data required.
• Experience applying machine-learning and/or deep-learning techniques to remote-sensing or spatial-analysis projects preferred.
• Knowledge of coastal wetland ecosystem dynamics and coastal ecosystem change preferred.
• Ability to integrate historical climate data, vegetation-change products, and other geospatial datasets into scientific analyses.
• Experience conducting analyses across landscape, regional, and/or global geographic scales preferred.
• Demonstrated ability to design, execute, document, and interpret scientific experiments using remotely sensed imagery and spatial-analysis outputs.
• Strong experience preparing technical reports, peer-reviewed manuscripts, scientific figures, tables, maps, data products, and conference presentations.
• Familiarity with USGS or federal scientific-data practices, including data management, reproducible methods, technical documentation, and metadata development.
• Ability to create FGDC-compliant metadata for datasets and other required deliverables.
• Demonstrated ability to maintain accurate data logs, project records, documentation, and code in a version-control repository.
• Strong written, verbal, and interpersonal communication skills, including the ability to present complex scientific findings clearly to technical and nontechnical audiences.
• Ability to effectively collaborate with federal scientists, project partners, cooperators, customers, and stakeholders.
• Ability to lead or support the planning and facilitation of partner meetings.
• Ability to work independently, exercise sound judgment, manage competing priorities, and deliver accurate work on schedule.
• Strong attention to detail and commitment to data quality, documentation accuracy, customer specifications, and timely project delivery.
• Ability to successfully complete a federal background investigation and maintain required access credentials.

Responsibilities

• Conduct scientific literature reviews related to remote sensing, GIS analysis, landscape ecology, coastal wetland ecosystems, and habitats being mapped or analyzed.
• Advance the production and analysis of remotely sensed data to assess coastal wetland change, support restoration planning, evaluate restoration effectiveness, and inform future ecosystem predictions.
• Acquire, develop, organize, document, and analyze long-term remote-sensing data to measure spatial and temporal change in coastal wetland ecosystems.
• Execute experiments using remotely sensed imagery, spatial-analysis outputs, and innovative geospatial methods.
• Apply machine-learning and deep-learning techniques to remote-sensing imagery and spatial data, as appropriate to project needs.
• Integrate existing geospatial information, including historical climate data, vegetation-change products, and other environmental datasets, with newly developed remote-sensing products.
• Apply knowledge of landscape ecology and coastal wetland ecosystem dynamics for advancing understanding of coastal wetland changes using geospatial analyses and remote sensing.
• Produce custom geospatial products and analytical outputs that support research on the ecological effects of extreme events occurring in recent decades.
• Develop and maintain complete, accurate documentation for project activities, datasets, data-production processes, technical methods, and analytical procedures.
• Maintain project status records, timekeeping documentation, data logs, analytical code, and version-controlled project materials.
• Produce Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC)-compliant metadata for all required deliverables.
• Prepare publication-ready maps, figures, tables, datasets, data releases, reports, and manuscripts for peer-reviewed journal publication.
• Summarize and communicate research findings through technical reports, journal articles, conference presentations, and presentations to USGS staff, cooperators, partners, and customers.
• Provide a leadership role in preparing for and facilitating meetings with research partners.
• Participate in project meetings, technical discussions, and other coordination activities as needed.
• Assist with technical aspects of proposal development, as assigned.
• Use professional experience and sound judgment to recommend next steps, identify issues, and propose solutions during project execution.
• Perform work independently and in accordance with established standard operating procedures, quality standards, and project requirements.
• Support field-based data-collection activities, when required.
• Follow all applicable federal information-security, privacy, property-protection, and facility-security requirements.
• Perform other job-related duties as assigned.

Benefits

• Medical
• Dental
• Vision
• 401(k)

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Entry Level
• Education Level: Ph.D. or professional degree