Postdoctoral Research Associate

Texas A&M • College Station, TX

1d • Onsite

About The Position

The Postdoctoral Research Associate will contribute to an integrated research and extension project focused on improving the flood resilience of private working lands in the Texas Hill Country (TxHC). This project responds to the widespread impacts of the July 4th, 2025 flood event by developing science‑based tools, spatial analyses, and community‑driven strategies that support long‑term resilience planning in a rapidly changing landscape. The postdoctoral researcher will join a multidisciplinary team with expertise in human dimensions of natural resources, private land management, governance and policy, spatial ecology, and community engagement.

Texas private working lands face accelerating conversion pressures driven by population growth, rising land values, and generational land transitions. These pressures threaten the ecosystem services—especially flood mitigation—provided by grasslands, rangelands, and agricultural lands across the 22‑county TxHC region. The postdoctoral associate will play a key role in ensuring that recovery from the July 4th floods supports long‑term resilience by helping stakeholders identify and protect high‑value, high‑risk lands critical for buffering rural communities from flood hazards.

Requirements

• Ph.D. in natural resources, geography, ecology, environmental science, agricultural economics, or a closely related field.
• Experience with survey design methodologies and software.
• Strong quantitative and mixed‑methods skills.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills.

Nice To Haves

• Experience with ecosystem services modeling or flood‑risk assessment.
• Familiarity with rural or private landowner engagement, survey design, or community-based research.
• Knowledge of conservation easements, open-space valuation, or land‑stewardship programs relevant to Texas working lands.
• Experience collaborating with multi-stakeholder teams (e.g., land trusts, Extension, state agencies).

Responsibilities

• Develop and implement a spatially explicit methodology for characterizing and prioritizing private working lands based on flood mitigation potential and land‑conversion risk.
• Support creation of a TxHC‑wide value–risk prioritization map to guide conservation investments.
• Design, administer, and analyze a landowner survey grounded in Protection Motivation Theory and participatory GIS (PPGIS) to assess landowner perceptions, values, and willingness to engage in conservation programs.
• Key role in ensuring that recovery from the July 4th floods supports long‑term resilience by helping stakeholders identify and protect high‑value, high‑risk lands critical for buffering rural communities from flood hazards.
• Support facilitation of community workshops with landowners, conservation partners, and local decision‑makers to co‑produce knowledge and identify conservation pathways.
• Contribute to the development of a decision‑support toolkit, including interactive maps, a dichotomous key for land evaluation, success‑story dashboards, and decision‑pathway tools for conservation opportunities.
• Assist in delivering train‑the‑trainer workshops for conservation leaders using toolkit resources and project findings.

Benefits

• Health, dental, vision, life and long-term disability insurance with Texas A&M AgriLife contributing to employee health and basic life premiums
• 12-15 days of annual paid holidays
• Up to eight hours of paid sick leave and at least eight hours of paid vacation each month
• Automatic enrollment in the Teacher Retirement System of Texas
• Employee Wellness Initiative for Texas A&M AgriLife

What This Job Offers

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