Research Associate or Research Scientist - Ag. Economics and Remote Sensing

Virginia Tech•Blacksburg, VA

2d•Hybrid

About The Position

The Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics at Virginia Tech, and in particular an interdisciplinary research team led by Dr. Elinor Benami, is seeking a highly motivated Research Associate or Scientist to join us in the Summer or Fall 2026. The position is annually renewable pending availability of continued funding. This is a single search for one research faculty position that may be filled at either rank, depending on the qualifications of the finalist candidate. Research Associate conducts research under supervision with more limited independent authority, contributes to manuscripts and reports under guidance, and is generally not eligible to serve as principal investigator. Research Scientist conducts independent research under general supervision, contributes significantly to project conceptualization and management, is expected to lead manuscripts and contribute to proposal and grant development, may supervise project personnel and research assistants, and is eligible to serve as principal investigator. Our team works at the intersection of agricultural economics, remote sensing, and insurance and finance, with projects spanning how the use of Earth observation can inform agricultural index insurance design, premium ratings, and quantifying the private and public values of conservation agricultural practice adoption. We are affiliated with NASA Harvest and collaborate with a wide range of academic, government, and practitioner partners, including USDA, the Gates Foundation, Microsoft AI for Good, and multiple public, private, and nongovernmental organizations. The successful candidate will be responsible for supporting the research efforts of our team using a variety of tools and methods. These will include preparing geospatial and administrative data for analysis, applying theory-guided statistical approaches to uncover relationships in the data, generating visualizations and maps, preparing manuscripts for submission to peer-reviewed journals, and presenting findings to academic as well as practitioner audiences. The candidate will also have opportunities to engage directly with policy and industry partners and to contribute to ongoing grant development. We are especially interested in candidates with a background in agricultural or applied economics/finance and familiarity with remote sensing data and methods, though we welcome applicants from related quantitative disciplines, including economics, earth system or environmental sciences, computational social science, and geography, provided they bring strong causal inference skills and engagement with applied policy questions. Experience with land markets, agricultural finance, or soil and water conservation policy is a plus. The position is best suited to someone who is comfortable working across disciplinary boundaries, interested in both the scholarly and applied dimensions of the work, and eager to contribute to a collaborative and fast-moving research environment.

Requirements

Master's degree in agricultural economics, applied economics, or a related quantitative field, or a bachelor’s degree and significant relevant experience in the same fields (Research Associate).
PhD in agricultural economics, applied economics, or a related quantitative field with relevant research experience (Research Scientist).
Strong written and oral communication skills.
Demonstrated experience with data analysis in R, Python, or similar language using version control (e.g., Git).
Experience in evaluating the economic and policy implications of agricultural monitoring techniques, ideally using remotely sensed, Earth observation data.

Nice To Haves

Experience with econometric methods applied to administrative or observational data.
Familiarity with geospatial analysis and remote sensing data, including cloud platforms such as Google Earth Engine.
Prior work in one or more of the team's areas: agricultural/index insurance or risk transfer, conservation agriculture, land markets, or rural finance.
Experience submitting manuscripts to peer reviewed journals and established publications record (Research Scientist).
Experience with managing sponsored research projects and/or personnel (Research Scientist).

Responsibilities

Conduct research under supervision with more limited independent authority (Research Associate).
Contribute to manuscripts and reports under guidance (Research Associate).
Conduct independent research under general supervision (Research Scientist).
Contribute significantly to project conceptualization and management (Research Scientist).
Lead manuscripts and contribute to proposal and grant development (Research Scientist).
Supervise project personnel and research assistants (Research Scientist).
Prepare geospatial and administrative data for analysis.
Apply theory-guided statistical approaches to uncover relationships in the data.
Generate visualizations and maps.
Prepare manuscripts for submission to peer-reviewed journals.
Present findings to academic as well as practitioner audiences.
Engage directly with policy and industry partners.
Contribute to ongoing grant development.