Postdoctoral Fellowship on Nature/Greenspace and Health

US Forest Service   Baltimore, MD   Full-time
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We are seeking a candidate for postdoctoral fellowship with 2-year duration (with potential for extension), to begin on a negotiated date in 2022 or 2023. Compensation will be between $72,340 and $86,706 annually depending on credentials.

The postdoctoral candidate position is located within the US Forest Service, Northern Research Station Work Unit NRS-08, "Communities and Landscapes of the Urban Northeast: Science and Application" with the duty station located in Philadelphia, PA. NRS-08 focuses on the communities and landscapes of the urban northeast. This geography is linked by common aspects of culture, history, climate, and ecology, all of which inform our unit's interdisciplinary nature. Our four primary locations - Amherst/Springfield, MA; New York City; Philadelphia; and Baltimore - encompass the urban, urbanizing, and urban-interface landscapes of the highly-developed and densely populated northeastern corridor of the US, where a large proportion of temperate deciduous forests are relatively small patches. The connectedness and comingling of forests and society is perhaps nowhere as pronounced as in the urban northeast, where the smallest forests are the most often seen, the most often used, and provide green space where it is most needed in densely populated areas. This reality informs the emphasis on social-ecology and co-production of scientific information.

The unit's problem areas recognize the fundamental and reciprocal relationships between forests and greenspaces, stewardship and engagement, and human health and well-being. The unit's vision is that communities are inviting, livable, socially connected and environmentally equitable, and resilient to extreme events; ecosystems that are made more healthy, functional, and resilient through science-informed management; and economies that thrive based on healthy ecosystem function, the inclusion of waste to wealth initiatives around urban wood, and the training and inclusion of underrepresented groups in the environmental workforce and sustainability leadership.

The postdoctoral research fellow will engage in research studies with the US Forest Service (primary mentor: Dr. Michelle Kondo) and university collaborators, on the association between urban greening and greenspace exposure, and human health and safety, focusing on urban environmental and health disparities.

The fellow will conduct research associated with Project VITAL, which aims to examine how greening vacant lots can improve adolescent health disparities in Baltimore, MD (PI: Kristin Mmari, co-I: Michelle Kondo). In particular, the fellow will help conduct quasi-experimental research on the impact of various greening initiatives on three primary adolescent health outcomes: violence, mental health, and food insecurity. In addition, the fellow will have the opportunity to engage in and lead research in the following areas:

  • Evaluate effects of green stormwater infrastructure (and associated public participation) in Philadelphia on measures of human health and safety using both observational and experimental methods
  • Determine how health and safety considerations influence public attitudes towards urban forests and greenspaces
  • Measure impacts of Nature Rx prescriptions on youth and adolescent health
  • Determine the public health/healthcare-related return on investment of nature exposure
  • Develop a park quality index for public health outcomes
  • Develop new metrics and analytic techniques to assess the effects of urban nature on human health and well-being
  • Examine relationships between urban forests, zoonotic disease and human health

The nature of this work requires collaboration with a wide range of stakeholders including community leaders, land managers, planners, policy makers, managers, and other scientists resulting in the need for a variety of communication strategies.

The candidate must have obtained (or is scheduled to obtain shortly) a doctorate in the field of geography, environmental health, epidemiology, biostatistics, psychology or a related field. Preference will be given to candidates who can exhibit the following skills and abilities:

  • Working in interdisciplinary teams
  • Working with managers, or practitioners
  • Handling multiple work assignments simultaneously
  • Willingness to learn new concepts, ideas, methods
  • Statistical analysis of experimental study data, longitudinal data, and survey data with spatial dimensions
  • Communicate research results via written, verbal, and visual means
  • Spatial statistical analyses (using R packages, ArcGIS, QGIS, GeoDa or similar)
  • Fluency in coding such as scripting languages like R and/ or Python

Members of underrepresented racial or ethnic groups are highly encouraged to apply.

This job is no longer available.

US Forest Service

Baltimore, MD