Assistant Professor, Tenure-Track, Resiliency of Environmental Systems
Location Waco, TX, USA Position Type Faculty apply.interfolio.com/125895 Position Description The Department of Environmental Science at Baylor University seeks an outstanding environmental scientist with an emphasis in the Resiliency of Environmental Systems and Nature-based Solutions at the rank of Assistant Professor to join our dynamic and growing faculty in pursuing essential research questions that address the strategic goals of our university, beginning August, 2024. Candidates with expertise examining the intersection of multiple stressors, particularly climate change and human disturbance, on the resilience of natural or human-modified systems, are encouraged to apply. We also encourage applicants with interest in exploring how nature-based solutions interface with restoration and resiliency. Focal areas can also be broad, and we especially welcome expertise in ecosystem dynamics, life cycle, and systems-based approaches. About Baylor University: Located in Waco, Texas, Baylor University is the oldest college in Texas. With a population of 21,000 diverse students, Baylor is one of the top universities in the nation, having been named an R1 institution by the Carnegie Classification in January 2022. Baylor is also on the honor roll of the "Great Colleges to Work For" from The Chronicle of Higher Education; Baylor offers competitive salaries and benefits while allowing faculty and staff to live in one of the fastest-growing parts of the state. Our strategic plan, Illuminate, guides the University as we continue to live up to Baylor's mission of educating men and women for worldwide leadership and service by integrating academic excellence and Christian commitment within a caring community. Qualifications Applicants must have a doctoral degree in Environmental Science or related field.
Application Instructions: Electronically submit a letter of application, a 1-2 page research plan, a 1-2 page teaching philosophy and plans, a current curriculum vitae, and official transcripts showing the highest degree conferred. Also, include names, addresses, and phone numbers of three individuals from whom you have requested letters of recommendation. To apply for this position, please go to: apply.interfolio.com/116641. Applications review will begin 10/01/2023. Questions should be directed to Dr. George Cobb ([email protected]), Chair of Environmental Science, or Dr. Ryan McManamay ([email protected]), Chair of the search committee. To learn more about the above position, please visit these links: http://www.baylor.edu/environmentalscience; http://www.baylor.edu/artsandsciences/; and https://jobs.baylor.edu/ . Equal Employment Opportunity Statement Baylor University is a private not-for-profit university affiliated with the Baptist General Convention of Texas. As an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity employer, Baylor is committed to compliance with all applicable anti-discrimination laws, including those regarding age, race, color, sex, national origin, military service, genetic information, and disability. Baylor’s commitment to equal opportunity and respect of others does not undermine the validity and effect of the constitutional and statutory protections for its religious liberty, including, without limitation, the religious organization exemption under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the religious exemption to Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, and the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, among others. Baylor encourages women, minorities, veterans, and individuals with disabilities to apply. EEO/M/F/Vets/Disabled Jay Oliver is a post masters research associate in our lab. Jay received a bachelor’s degree in environmental science and policy from the University of South Florida in 2014. He went on to earn his master’s degree in environmental economics and management in 2019 from the University of York. Jay is most passionate about studying the interactions between anthropogenic effects on the environment and finding ways to sustainably use the Earth’s resources. He is currently working on a project that examines land use dynamics. This entails developing detailed land use map products that can be used to simulate future land cover change in the United States. Jay is also working on a project that deals with environmental flow analysis within the state of Texas. His work consists in helping determine what stream segments are being altered by examining discharge data with respect to climate and human alterations. The end goal of the project will be to identify hydrologic alteration thresholds for rivers to sustain ecological function. One of Jay’s favorite accomplishments during his time in our lab is being able to develop technical capabilities performing spatial analysis and working with data through GIS and programing software. Jay is involved in SACNAS, an organization that encourages Hispanic and Native American involvement in STEM fields. Jay was born and raised in Ecuador, where he lived for 26 years. Meet Micah Bowman, a Ph.D. student in our lab. Micah completed his undergraduate degree in biology at Pensacola Christian College in 2008 and went on to receive a master’s in biology at the University of Nebraska Kearney in 2013. Prior to pursuing a Ph.D. at Baylor, he taught biology at his alma mater, Pensacola Christian College. Micah is happily married with four children and is passionate about studying animals. He discovered his love for animals when his family moved to a house with land in junior high. He currently has 15 ball pythons. Micah's PhD research is working to test the ability of optical imaging and artifical intelligence (AI) technologies to autonomously detect and identify small aquatic organisms, like benthic invertebrates and fish. Specifically, the technology he is using includes an optical imaging system that utilizes AI and machine learning to identify and count organisms to aid with collecting stream data. This machine drastically cuts down the time it takes to collect and obtain data, allowing researchers to move through their research process more quickly. The SAO imager takes pictures of what passes through the machine directly at the research site. Based on the training of the machine, AI is used to identify and count what is in the water. Micah’s role is to train the AI for the machine to enable it to identify the organisms most accurately in the sample. He is currently in the midst of the publication process for a paper about the SAO, specific to zooplankton. The McManamay lab is a highly interdisciplinary group, generally studying human-environmental interactions, particularly the impacts of anthropogenic disturbances on ecosystems and identifying solutions to balance societal demands with natural resources. Research objectives include quantifying societal dependencies on natural resources through infrastructure mapping, as well as understanding the potential ecosystem stresses and socioeconomic vulnerabilities arising from future infrastructure development, including future land use and land cover change, future water infrastructure development (e.g., dams and reservoirs, water supplies), and future renewable energy development. This includes evaluating subsequent stress to natural resources, such as water and land availability, but also biodiversity loss. To expand this line of inquiry, the McManamay Lab at Baylor University is seeking a postdoctoral scholar with experience in geospatial analysis and modeling and a desire to creatively explore using spatial analysis to identify mutually beneficial solutions for meeting societal needs (urban growth, water infrastructures, etc) and maintaining ecosystem integrity. The successful candidate will work with the PI, graduate students, and an interdisciplinary team of scientists and faculty within multiple high-profile projects including the Integrated Multisector Multiscale Modeling (IM3) Program (im3.pnnl.gov), the Integrated Coastal Modeling Project (icom.pnnl.gov), and the Coastal Observations, Mechanisms, and Predictions Across Systems and Scales Project (COMPASS, compass.pnnl.gov). Model coupling is a critical element of collaborative experiments. Other areas of inquiry within the McManamay lab includes understanding the future impacts and tradeoffs of renewable energies on biodiversity, analysis that inform the development of environmental flows within Texas rivers, and biodiversity discovery using autonomous imaging. Postdoctoral scholars are expected lead technical components of the research, be scholarly productive, as well as co-mentoring graduate students, and collaborating on research proposals. Instructing and developing curriculum is also welcomed if candidates are interested.
Requirements include a degree in a degree in Geography, Natural Resources, Engineering, or other related disciplines. Experience with ESRI (ArcMap) software and open-source programming languages for geospatial analysis is required. Preferred qualifications include experience with Python and R programming environments. Previous research and experience in land use modeling, High-performance computing, and curating programming code and data in repositories is valued. The position is a 1-yr contract with potential for extension and a preferred start date of October 2022. Salary will be competitive and includes benefits. Interested candidates should email Dr. Ryan McManamay ([email protected]) by 9/1/2022 with (1) CV, (2) letter or email of intent with research experience and goals for their postdoctoral experience, and (3) contact information for 3 references. In this blog segment we will be meeting another PhD student in the lab, Mark Lueders. Mark completed his undergraduate degree at Minnesota State University Moorhead, with a B.S in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. Within these fields, Mark found a passion and skill for Behavioral Ecology – conducting varied research in zebrafish, marine ecology, and even onion cells! During his undergrad, Mark help found the Marine Ecology Club, now complete with live camera feeds! (https://www.mnstate.edu/academics/colleges-schools/biosciences/oceanarium/). Mark also participated in an NSF funded undergraduate research experience looking at inhibitory effects of the chemical lawsone on rapidly reproducing cells – such as onion cells. At the start of Mark’s time at Baylor in the McManamay lab, he hit the ground running with work on writing a book chapter on “Earth’s Imperiled Rivers and Stream” in the 2021 edition of Earth Systems and Environmental Sciences. Currently Mark’s research is working on a predictive risk model for stakeholders to use as a management tool when planning on undergoing a project that might change the hydrology of a river. The risk of negative effect is computed for fish, currently only Endangered or Threatened fish, based on their natural behaviors. This research is in part informed by a metanalysis conducted by other members of the lab. This metanalysis compiled and extracted information from relevant literature on how environmental flows and thresholds impact fish communities across Texas. Mark is utilizing this data to generate a real-world application tool to help mitigate risk to these river ecosystems. In addition to the risk model, Mark is working on a geospatial analysis of these thresholds of hydrologic alteration that result in negative effects on river ecosystems. Outside of his computer-based research, Mark also participates in field work for an ongoing project with a device called the Zooplankton Optical Imaging System (ZOIS). Another PhD student we will meet later is heading that project, but in general, the ZOIS is an automatic aquatic sampler that uses imaging and AI to identify organisms that pass through the system. Mark is currently a member of the Bernard Ramm Scholars Program, a cross-disciplinary program for doctoral STEM students and M.Div. students from the seminary that encourages the engagement between Christianity and the Sciences through intellectually rich discussions about faith, science, and issues both historic and contemporary. We are so excited to see what else Mark will achieve at Baylor! Keep your eye on the publications page, and feel free to reach out to Mark if you have any questions or interest in his work ([email protected]).
Unfortunately, while hydropower offered great energy benefits, it does leave rise for environmental concern. River fragmentation from reservoir damming and loss in biodiversity from habitat change are a couple examples of the potential threats that new hydropower facility construction pose to the very same ecosystems that renewable energy development are aimed to protect. All hope is not lost, as this project sought to better quantify the global potential for increasing hydropower with environmentally benign alternatives. In addition to dams used for hydropower, there are hundreds of thousands of dams that are already constructed for different societal purposes (flood control, irrigation, recreation, etc.) and have already incurred a large part of their environmental impacts. These non-powered dams provide opportunity for retrofitting facilities for hydropower capacity with the addition of turbines. Although there are still some environmental concerns with these additions (ex. fish impingement and power transmission infrastructure), they do provide an opportunity for more immediate solutions to increased energy demands and needs – particularly in many regions of low development indices and biological hotspots in need of conservation from new construction. This project sought to quantify this potential using a spatially comprehensive global inventory of geolocated dams used for purposes other than hydropower, and augment these results with modelled estimates of small, unmapped dams. We also examined increases in hydropower potential from efficiency upgrades at existing hydro-plants. These opportunities afford non-invasive increases in hydropower in populated areas neighboring biodiversity hot spots. Overall, we estimate that these contributions could potentially provide up to a 10% increase to current global hydropower, potentially reducing the costs of construction and transmission, all while offsetting impacts to biodiversity and river ecosystems incurred by planned new hydropower construction. As illustrated below, 15 regions of the globe all had potential MW contribution from mapped NPDs, facility upgrades, and modelled unmapped estimates (TCM and Pareto) determined. We also conducted case studies in the Amazon, Congo, and Mekong river basins to look at regions of biological overlap with future construction, existing NPDs and existing hydro-plants (see the figure below). In my mind, this work seeks to rectify the relationship between pursing energy development and ecological conservation. These pursuits do not have to be mutually exclusive – and in fact, these findings can actually provide unique opportunities for innovative solutions to development. To me, a sustainable future is one of optimized systems – both engineered and natural. Environmental stewardship does not have to come at the expense of development.
Be on the lookout for this work and more on our Publications page. If you want to learn more about myself or other members of our lab, check out the People page! Feel free to engage with us on this blog or via email! Thanks for reading! Greeting from Waco! As we all embrace the changing of seasons (quite gratefully after the epic Winter Storm that rocked Texas), there is new growth and greenery abundant across campus. The members of the McManamay Lab, despite some pollen invasions, are so excited for sunny days and outdoor adventures. In the fields of Environmental Science, we rejoice with nature's glow and are thrilled to seek out new opportunities for discovery and for appreciation of the complex interworking’s in our natural environment. Despite clearer skies and warmer days, there are some members of the McManamay lab who remain indoors, watching their field work counterparts prepare for expeditions. Although still filled with their appreciation for the great outdoors, there are still great and fulfilling things to be done, elbows deep in data analysis and modeling building for PhD student Jillian Sturtevant. Jillian is passionate about the land water energy nexus in the United States. This motivation comes from a deep-rooted love for people and communities and the natural environment. The work that Jillian is doing in the land use sector is aimed at having a direct impact on city planning in relation to resource allocation and the ways growing urbanization need be considered for a sustainable future. Summarizing Jillian’s work by the simple phrase “land, water, energy nexus” does a disservice to the vast and complex networks in which Jillian has tasks herself with untangling. If data computation and management were a wrestling league, Jillian would be the heavy weight champion. Jillian is not in the megabyte or gigabyte realm, but the terabyte realm of geospatial data storage and processing. Consolidating vast previous datasets of these networks, proved to be no small feat, as currently published and utilized geospatial databases do not always coincide in accuracy and resolution. Marrying these resources, as well as filling in the remaining gaps with newly generated data from API and Google Maps has resulted in NWELD, the National Water Energy Land Dataset, a composite geodatabase of significant size, and accurate up to a 30 x 30 meter grid resolution of all involved networks within the 95 layers of information. The figure represents how previous land use or land cover data products would classify NWELD layers (for example, where NWELD has identified wastewater treatment plants, NLCD classifies that land as open water and low/medium/high urban development; i.e. NWELD is much more specific compared to previous data products). Her process for generating a highly accurate model and geospatial dataset has resulted in a 95 distinct layers that each individually represents some aspect or network within our water and energy systems. The depth and breadth of this dataset is astounding. The hope is that this database will effectively and more accurately provide developers, researchers, policy makers, and city planners with information to move forward in a vastly urbanizing world of limited resources in the United States economy. The images examples of the NWELD product with contextual aerial imagery. As you can see, the availability of this accurate and complex geospatial modeling can significantly and measurably impact the way in which developers and researchers understand and interact with the land water energy nexus. Her work is aimed at “how specifically land use data can aid in protecting the natural environment and biodiversity in urban areas via city planning.” We look forward to seeing Jillian’s work progress and be used for impactful research across disciplines! Keep your eyes on our Publications page for Jillian’s work, and check out her profile on our People page. If you want to network, ask questions, collaborate, or congratulate Jillian on her work, you can reach Jillian or Dr. McManamay at [email protected] and [email protected], respectively. Hello from Waco! And welcome to the first blog post for the McManamay Lab. We are excited to begin sharing with you our research and experiences here at Baylor University. Our lab is made up of a unique and multidisciplinary team who have focuses far and wide in the realm of environmental science and ecology – but one thing holds us together…...and that is coffee. Well, and our shared love and respect for our environment and a deep-rooted passion for using scientific research and innovative thinking to find wholistic solutions to the challenges facing our world and ecosystems today. Keep an eye out for more blog posts where we will dive in (subtle water pun, if you catch my drift), and explore our research with you, our experiences as graduate students, our professional and academic development, and the occasional favorite ecology joke! Before we get into the nitty gritty, we here at the McManamay Lab would like to tell you more about ourselves, outside our professional profiles in the “People” tab on our webpage (https://mcmanamaylab.weebly.com/people.html).
Q: If you could turn into an animal what would it be? Dr. McManamay: A donkey if I were like the one on Shrek and had a voice like Eddie Murphy. No reason needed – isn’t it obvious? Otherwise, a wolverine. Diane: A possum, I find them absolutely adorable and we don't have them in Europe, so it's quite the exotic critter to me Lydia: A Cow fish! Jillian: I would turn into a flying squirrel; I’d want to enjoy flight and have amazing climbing skills Kayla: A red panda because they are basically a combination of cats and lemurs. Mark: I would be a turtle. I like turtles, and I also identify with their affinity for water and occasional need to withdraw. Ava: I would turn into a dolphin so I could swim all the time, plus I think they’re super smart and fun! Jordie: Either a dragon because I absolutely love dragons, or a dog because loyalty is something, I value in myself and others. Matthew: Black bear – they need a lot of food to properly function and they’re pretty chill as far as bears go. Q: Favorite outdoor activity? Dr. McManamay: That is tough – I would like to create a new outdoor sport that combines fly fishing, hunting, gardening into 1 – that is my favorite Diane: Hiking! Lydia: Hiking and/or kayaking Jillian: Kayaking Kayla: Hammocking up in some trees and reading. Mark: I love being out on the water, preferably kayaking. Ava: My favorite outdoor activity is rock climbing. Jordie: Horseback riding or hiking. Matthew: Backpacking. If you had to be a kitchen utensil, what would you be? Dr. McManamay: A rolling pin – it is respected by all other utensils. Diane: My fermenting/pickling crock: I do have a fermenting/pickling problem, as attested by the good third of my fridge taken up by those concoctions Lydia: A chopping knife, I use them every day! Jillian: A ladle; I enjoy serving others Kayla: An avocado multitool Mark: Egg separator Ava: I would be a spork so you get the best of both worlds (Is that cheating?!) Jordie: A butter knife. Matthew: Crock pot – you can’t beat a slow cooker. As you may be able to tell, while we take our work very seriously, we do not take ourselves very seriously. We are looking forward to the years ahead of new discovery and innovation – and are excited to invite you along for the ride! Baylor Department of Environmental Science is hiring an assistant professor of climate change. https://www.nature.com/naturecareers/job/assistant-professor-of-climate-change-department-of-environmental-science-baylor-university-701183
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AuthorSHaley O'Donnell is a Senior undergraduate student majoring in journalism at Baylor Archives
July 2023
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