Description
Postdoctoral Researcher to lead a project examining impacts of soil health practices (cover crops or woodchips) on soil carbon, microbial communities, yield, and crop nutritional quality. Postdoc will also have the opportunity to contribute microbial analyses to parallel projects evaluating almond alfalfa intercropping, cover crops and whole orchard recycling in almonds, and cover cropped vineyards. For more information on Hale lab: USDA webpage and Google scholar profile.
Supervising PI: Dr. Lauren Hale

Qualifications

• Must have Ph.D. in microbial ecology, soil biology, microbe-plant interactions, analytical chemistry or related field
• Willingness to conduct field work (e.g. collecting soil samples, maintaining field equipment, collecting greenhouse gas measurements) is required and may involve regional travel.
• Molecular laboratory experience (e.g. DNA extraction, PCR, amplicon sequencing, and/ or work with soil biological tests (e.g. PLFA, enzymatic assays) is ideal.
• Demonstrated experience synthesizing and writing manuscripts is required.

Salary and Conditions
Full-time salary at $70K/year plus benefits included. The position is for 2 years, with potential for extension, dependent upon performance and the availability of research funding.

Location
Parlier sits in the heart of the Central Valley of California, one of the most agronomically productive regions in the world, producing more than 200 unique specialty crops. Many of California’s spectacular sights are a short drive away.

Requirements: PhD completed in time to join team by January 2024

Interested? Feel free to contact with inquiries and/or send C.V. and 1-3 representative publications to lauren.Hale@usda.gov.

PhD completed in time to join team by January 2024

About USDA-ARS

Dr. Lauren Hale is a soil microbiologist in the Water Management Research Unit at the USDA-ARS in Parlier, California. Dr. Hale’s research program is designed to optimize benefits of soil microorganisms for soil health, crop productivity, and water productivity. She evaluates the short- and long-term outcomes of management practices such as cover crops, organic soil amendments, and deficit irrigation on ecosystem services performed by soil microbes. Prior to her work at the USDA, Dr. Hale was a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Oklahoma, investigating microbial ecology and feedbacks to climate change. Lauren holds a Ph.D. from the University of California, Riverside, where she studied the use of biochar and plant-growth-promoting bacteria as agricultural soil amendments, and a bachelor’s degree in Microbiology from North Carolina State University.

Connections working at USDA-ARS