Employment Opportunities at NESCent
Assistant Director for Science
The National Evolutionary Synthesis Center (NESCent) seeks a highly motivated biologist to serve as Assistant Director of Science. The Assistant Director will be involved in all aspects of the Center’s scientific activities and will work closely with the Director and the Associate Director for Science and Synthesis to enable synthetic scientific activities of the Center. We seek an individual with a strong background in Evolutionary Biology or a related field, with interest in administration. The position is full time.
Job Description:
The Assistant Director will be involved in all aspects of Center activities, and will be encouraged to interact with postdocs, visiting scientists and working groups. Specific responsibilities will include working closely with the Director and the Associate Director for Science to coordinate the reporting functions of the Center. These tasks will include developing assessment tools and surveys; working with informatics staff to implement reporting modules of the administrative database; and working with Directors and other senior staff in preparing grant applications, annual reports and documents for site visits and advisory boards. The individual will also help to oversee the logistics of the proposal review system, and to help coordinate other Center activities, including Darwin Day and other symposia and workshops.
Expected Qualifications:
- Ph.D. in biology or related field, with experience in evolutionary biology. Several years of postdoctoral work including research and/or teaching positions.
- Experience with administrative positions or interest in developing administrative expertise.
- Well developed communication skills and leadership potential.
- Enthusiastic support of the Center’s activities and goals.
How to Apply:
Candidates should submit a letter of application discussing their background and job interests, CV and names of three individuals willing to provide letters of recommendation to AcademicJobsOnline. Applications will be considered until the position is filled; applications received before July 20 will be guaranteed consideration. Inquires regarding the position may be directed to Dr. Kathleen Smith, NESCent Director at kksmith@duke.edu.
Duke University is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer.
Sr. Bioinformatics Programmer, Databases and Middleware
The National Evolutionary Synthesis Center (NESCent) seeks a highly motivated Bioinformatics Programmer responsible for design, implementation, and maintenance of databases and surrounding software used by both evolutionary biology researchers and educators, and by NESCent administration. The position is within the Center’s informatics team.
NESCent’s Informatics program offers a vibrant environment with ample opportunities to interact and work closely with a wide array of researchers in evolutionary biology and related disciplines. Aside from supporting the IT needs of the Center administration, the group provides visiting and resident scientists with cutting-edge electronic collaboration infrastructure and software engineering capabilities ranging from modern multi-tiered applications with highly interactive user interfaces to sound data models with integrated semantics. In addition, the Center’s Informatics program pursues an ambitious agenda of cyberinfrastructure initiatives to promote interoperability, data and service integration, and open development among the evolutionary biology community. Above all, we are enthusiastic about our work, the stimulating atmosphere at the Center, and the potential of informatics to enable more and better science.
Job Description:
The incumbent will work within the Center’s informatics team with other software developers and system support staff, and collaborate with scientists visiting or resident at the Center as well as other Center staff. The responsibilities of the job range from designing data models, to architecting and implementing server-side middleware, service-oriented APIs, and managing data flow. The incumbent will gather requirements from scientists, Center staff, and collaborating developers and translate these into functional and technical specifications; analyze, design, develop, maintain, document, and test new and existing database schemas, object models, APIs, and software; use and contribute to existing and emerging standards; create technical documentation, present work at scientific meetings, and contribute to scientific publications. The incumbent will also collaborate with the Assistant Director of Informatics and Center Leadership to advise of priorities, problems and proposed solutions; to assist in setting priorities and goals for scientific database support, to structure development with respect to specific timelines and milestones, and to make decisions required to create and deploy database applications.
Required Qualifications:
- Bachelor’s degree (M.S. or Ph.D. preferred) in biology, computer science, or related field. Four or more years of significant experience in designing and implementing database and database-interfacing technology, or an equivalent combination of relevant education and experience.
- Experienced in the use of major relational database management systems (preferably PostgreSQL).
- Knowledge of relational data modeling, and proven experience with translating domain models into normalized relational schemas.
- Thorough command of SQL, including DDL, and understanding of advanced elements of SQL (e.g., sub-queries, views, integrity enforcement)
- Knowledge of and experience with object-relational mapping technologies, preferably in Java (e.g., CMP, JDO, Hibernate). Demonstrated ability to architect, design, and implement object models and middleware on top of databases (preferably in Java).
- Proven team orientation, and outstanding interpersonal and communication skills.
Preferred Qualifications:
The ideal candidate has a rigorous background in software engineering best practices, and has demonstrated the ability to independently and collaboratively manage the entire life cycle of projects involving multiple scientific stakeholders. In addition, the ideal candidate has demonstrated deep knowledge as well as current awareness in emerging trends in one or more of the following areas:
- Advanced database technologies such as SQL server-side programming (e.g., database triggers, PL/SQL, PL/pgSQL) and data warehousing (OLAP, Data Marts).
- Elements of the semantic web (such as DL, RDF, OWL, ontologies, reasoning, software agents) and service-oriented software architecture (SOA) (such as Web Services, SOAP, REST, RMI).
- Evolutionary Biology or a related field.
The demonstrated ability to contribute to scholarly publications is highly desirable.
How to Apply:
Please send cover letter, resume, and the contact information for three references to the Asst. Director of Informatics, Hilmar Lapp (hlapp@nescent.org). Further inquiries about the position may be directed to Mr. Lapp by email, or by phone at +1-919-668-5288.
