UW faculty and staff also enjoy outstanding benefits, professional growth opportunities and unique resources in an environment noted for diversity, intellectual excitement, artistic pursuits and natural beauty. All of which has allowed the UW to be nationally recognized as a “Great College to Work For” for six consecutive years.

EARTHLAB has an outstanding opportunity for a part time (75% FTE), Future Rivers NRT Program Specialist who will be responsible for program administration, management, and outreach for a new National Science Foundation Research Traineeship (NRT) Program called Future Rivers.  Future Rivers is a graduate student training program that seeks to develop an innovative, culturally aware STEM workforce fluent in state-of-the-art approaches for sustaining freshwater ecosystems to effectively safeguard ecosystem services for a growing world population.  The project is driven by an urgent need for interdisciplinary sustainability scientists and thinkers who are at the front-lines of current and future environmental problem solving, versed in the quantitative tools required to integrate, model, and visualize complex data and often conflicting outcomes. The program is led by Professor Gordon Holtgrieve, School of Aquatic Fisheries, in collaboration with faculty from across the College of the Environment and College of Engineering.

Future Rivers is a member organization within EARTHLAB, a new initiative at the University of Washington (UW) seeking to link and apply the amazing environmental research happening at the UW with decision makers working on solutions to environmental challenges. This position is therefore housed within EARTHLAB and will benefit from cross-collaboration among EARTHLAB member organizations and a core support team.

Future Rivers, EARTHLAB, and the University of Washington (UW) are committed to developing a diverse and culturally aware workplace.  The UW is located in the greater Seattle metropolitan area, with a dynamic, multicultural community of 3.7 million people and a range of ecosystems from mountains to ocean. The UW serves a diverse population of 80,000 students, faculty and staff, including 25% first-generation college students, over 25% Pell Grant students, and faculty from over 70 countries. The UW is a recipient of a National Science Foundation ADVANCE Institutional Transformation Award to increase the advancement of women faculty in science, engineering, and math (see http://advance.washington.edu/).

The Program Specialist is responsible for programmatic and administrative support of the NRT Future Rivers Program. They will be the primary point of contact for a wide range of students, faculty, and outside partners seeking to engage with the program, and will coordinate student-centered educational and career-development activities.  The Program Specialist is responsible for developing new program policies and procedures related to student funding and awards, special projects , and program evaluation.  The specialist will also lead the promotion of the program both within and outside the UW .  Working with the Future Rivers Faculty Director, the Specialist will monitor budgets , seek additional resources, and generate reports for the funding agencies.  Since Future Rivers is a new program with a deliberate experimental approach to delivering innovative graduate education, the specialist must be willing to try new things and change directions as the situation demands. This employee reports to the EARTHLAB Administrator and the NRT Future Rivers Faculty Director .

Program Support

•Establish and maintain process for intake, revision, and selection of Future Rivers NRT fellows. Create and distribute timely Academic Student Employment (ASE) appointment letters for students entered into the program, as appropriate.  Establish and lead coordination of graduate diversity recruiting program and associated events and activities. Manage mentoring plans and assist in mentoring NRT fellows. Work with PI to resolve issues and student requests.
•Management and coordination of external opportunities for the NRT fellows.
Schedule and coordinate program related meetings and community-building events as requested; prepare agenda; take meeting minutes and prepare briefings and meeting summaries.
•Allocate resources and provide administrative support to the PI.  Effectively address complex and sensitive administrative issues using independent judgement and discretion.
•Serve as liaison between students, faculty and staff, participating departments and colleges, and partner organization leads.
•Assist the External Evaluator in identifying metrics and statistics for program evaluation.  This may include data on program demand, admissions trends, progress of current students, graduation and initial employment, etc.  Assist with student surveys, social media, and other methods of gathering information.
•Assist the Faculty Director and EARTHLAB Executive Director in developing long-term plans and funding model ensuring sustainability of the program.
•Manage all aspects of reporting to the National Science Foundation (NSF) and UW at the direction of the grant PI, maintaining appropriate records and databases to ensure long-term quality and accessibility of data. Establish and maintain system for tracking grant milestones, report deadlines, and other program deliverables. Work with Faculty Director to ensure all milestones, timelines, and requirements for the grant are met. Issue reminders and notifications of important commitments and ensure that all official obligations are met.
•Write content for reports including compiling scientific content and relevant news articles, and developing appropriate images and charts.
•Work with the EARTHLAB communications team to generate and distribute promotional materials, curate content and images about the Future Rivers program and establish a communications plan to ensure internal and external audiences are informed of the program’s accomplishments.
•Other duties as assigned.

Project Administration

•Support the PI in generating and submitting the annual reports   including meeting deadlines, developing complex budgets, coordinating application components, and preparing administrative portions of the reports.
•Manage budgets and provide financial reports as required. Help prepare complete and timely financial reports to sponsors. Review budget expenses. Review all financial transactions in financial system (MyFD), obtaining missing source documents, and reviewing for compliance and accuracy. Investigate and resolve problems. Ensure that the PI and Administrator are aware of pending issues and make suggestions on how to solve them. Analyze funds, create forecasts, and provide strategic advice on a regular basis.
•Ensure compliance with records retention gathering and storing for the PI.
•Participate as an active member of the EARTHLAB project management team in designing and recommending efficiencies and process improvement methodologies in alignment with program goals.

Professional Growth
Professional development and a continuous learning mindset is very important to the culture of EARTHLAB. Employees are encouraged to seek opportunities and activities that improve skills to support the NRT Program and EARTHLAB. The Program Specialist is expected to stay current on emerging technologies by attending workshops/trainings and developing relationships with peers and will be accountable for their own professional growth and competency. It is expected that new ideas will be incorporated into solutions and plans so the NRT Program and the department can benefit.

As a UW employee, you will enjoy generous benefits and work/life programs.  For detailed information on Benefits for this position, click here.

Requirements:

•Bachelor’s Degree in relevant field of administration, natural science, or engineering.
•Two years of experience in project management or program coordination.
•Strong project management and time management skills; ability to operate independently, prioritize, and accomplish complex initiatives within deadlines.  Ability and willingness to adjust to changing priorities on short notice as well as the ability to manage multiple sub-projects with varying deadlines
•Demonstrated organizational proficiency and project organization skills.  Self-motivated, proactive, adaptable work style, with the ability to learn quickly and to work with a variety of topics and people.
•Proven analytic abilities, using problem solving skills to proactively research and resolve questions, discrepancies, and inconsistencies.
•Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
•Demonstrated ability to develop and maintain harmonious relationships in a team environment and with a diverse audience.
•Ability to communicate successfully with stakeholders at all levels throughout a complex, diverse organization.  Must have the ability to maintain confidentiality and use discretion.
•High proficiency in MS Office (Excel, Word), Adobe Acrobat, and standard web interfaces.

Equivalent education/experience will substitute for all minimum qualifications except where there are legal requirements such as license/certification/registration.

Desired:
•Background and experience in freshwater science broadly defined.
•Background and experience in data science.
•Working knowledge of the NSF traineeship programs (NRT or IGERT), procedures and requirements.
•Experience working with UW administrative systems, UW policies and procedures.
•Experience with content management system, Photoshop, website and publishing software (Contribute, Dreamweaver, InDesign, Drupal), and data science computing.
•Experience in event planning and execution.

Conditions of Employment:
This position may require working a flexible schedule on occasion (with advance notice).

Application Process:
The application process for UW positions may include completion of a variety of online assessments to obtain additional information that will be used in the evaluation process.  These assessments may include Workforce Authorization, Cover Letter and/or others.  Any assessments that you need to complete will appear on your screen as soon as you select “Apply to this position”. Once you begin an assessment, it must be completed at that time; if you do not complete the assessment you will be prompted to do so the next time you access your “My Jobs” page. If you select to take it later, it will appear on your “My Jobs” page to take when you are ready. Please note that your application will not be reviewed, and you will not be considered for this position until all required assessments have been completed.