Plants of Concern Research Assistant – Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie (May - Dec. 2021), Chicago Botanic Garden
Agency: Chicago Botanic Garden
Location: Glencoe, IL
Closing Date: March 21, 2021, or until filled
Contact: No phone calls, please. For information on how to apply: chicagobotanic.org/jobs/apply In addition to the Chicago Botanic Garden application materials, please submit a cover letter that includes why you are interested in this position and briefly outlines relevant experience and a resume including contact information for three references.
Term/Grade:
Position Summary: As part of a cooperative program with Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie, Plants of Concern is recruiting for a seasonal research assistant. This seven-month, 35-hour-per-week position involves a suite of studies on rare plants at Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie, including those restricted to the unique dolomite prairie habitat. The Midewin program is part of a broader Plants of Concern regional rare plant monitoring program. The research assistant will travel to Midewin, near Joliet, Illinois, and nearby sites for approximately 30 days of fieldwork. The remaining time will be spent at the Chicago Botanic Garden or working remotely from home. Field duties involve recruiting, training, coordinating, and working with volunteers to monitor selected species through demographic study, censusing, sampling, and photopoints. Office duties include data entry and statistical analysis, report writing and GIS applications. The research assistant will have the opportunity to present accomplished work at Plants of Concern volunteer and stakeholder events. Three to four days of weekend work might be included.
Major Duties:
May through September
- Develop or modify field datasheets.
- Become oriented to Midewin monitoring sites and familiar with data to be collected.
- Develop schedule for fieldwork.
- Recruit, engage, train, organize, and support community science volunteers.
- Conduct rare plant monitoring fieldwork with volunteers and assist with other Midewin data collection, as necessary.
- Organize and enter data.
October through December.
- Complete data entry and analysis on multiyear dataset (using R statistical software)
- Organize and catalog monitoring and other photos (digital format)
- Work with supervisor on annual report to submit to granting agency
See the complete announcement and apply here.
