Website link here: https://www.usajobs.gov/GetJob/ViewDetails/575963100?utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery

Open & closing dates

 08/11/2020 to 08/31/2020

Salary

$81,875 to $149,562 per year

Summary

This position is located with the United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, National Clonal Germplasm Repository in Corvallis, OR.

The incumbent serves as the curator of the NPGS collection of temperate tree fruit and nut species providing technical direction and guidance in producing high quality, well characterized germplasm and conducting research on the maintenance, taxonomy, systematics, characterization, enhancement, and evaluation of germplasm.

Responsibilities

  • Acquiring and conserving temperate tree fruit and nut genetic resources and associated information.
  • Characterizing and evaluating selected germplasm, using morphological and molecular markers, and incorporating the resulting data into publicly accessible databases to promote germplasm collection utilization and augment conservation management.
  • Assessing how and whether selected wild temperate tree fruit and nut genetic resources are most effectively conserved.
  • Interacting with researchers in the temperate tree fruit and nut crop community and making genetic materials and associated information available from the National Plant Germplasm System to researchers and breeders worldwide.
  • Testing genetic resources for pathogens and perform/manage pathogen elimination procedures.

Qualifications

Applicants must meet all qualifications and eligibility requirements by the closing date of the announcement including specialized experience and/or education, as defined below.

Basic Requirements:

For the Horticulture (437) Series

Degree: horticulture; or a related discipline of basic plant science that included at least 30 semester hours in the basic plant sciences, of which at least 16 semester hours were in horticultural subjects such as those dealing with the breeding, care, management, production, and post harvest handling of horticultural crops.

OR

Combination of education and experience: courses equivalent to a major in horticulture or a related discipline of basic plant science that included course work as shown above, plus appropriate experience or additional education.

Evaluation of Education: Courses in botany, plant physiology, plant taxonomy, plant pathology, genetics, agronomy, horticulture, and similar courses may be used to meet the 30-semester-hour requirement in basic plant sciences.
The 16-semester-hour requirement in horticulture includes course work in basic horticulture and course work related to any of the recognized subject-matter fields of horticulture, i.e., fruits, vegetables, ornamentals, nursery work, seed production, or course work in related areas of science, such as micro-biology, entomology, plant pathology, plant physiology, or genetics that is directly related to horticultural work.

For the Genetics (440) Series

Degree: genetics; or one of the basic biological sciences that included at least 9 semester hours in genetics.

Graduate Education: Genetics, or a curriculum or pattern of training that placed major emphasis on genetics. Graduate study in related fields such as agronomy, horticulture, animal, dairy, or poultry husbandry, entomology, microbiology, plant pathology, chemistry, molecular and cellular biology, and physiology that involved cross-training in genetics is qualifying, provided it placed sufficient emphasis on genetics.

Evaluation of Education: Most students in the field take graduate work because specific training in genetics may be limited at the undergraduate level. Under these circumstances, it may be necessary to evaluate undergraduate course work in genetics in one of two ways, as described below, to determine whether or not it is qualifying.

  • Courses dealing with genetics, some phase of genetics, or specific techniques that are applied in genetics work are acceptable. This includes courses in genetics, plant or animal genetics, molecular and cellular biology, mathematics and statistics (as they apply to genetics), population dynamics, and certain techniques such as those dealing with irradiation.
  • Course work consisting of an appropriate combination of basic courses in genetics and cytology or statistics are also acceptable.

AND

in addition to meeting at least one of the basic education requirements stated above, applicants must also meet the following minimum qualification requirements

Specialized Experience: Specialized experience is experience directly related to the position to be filled. Specialized experience must be described for each grade level advertised. The specialized experience requirements for this position are:

At The GS-12:

Qualifying experience for GS-12 includes one year of specialized experience comparable to GS-11 which is directly related to the work of this position and which has equipped the applicant with the knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform successfully the duties of the position. For this position, specialized experience is participating in plant or crop genetic resources research in a laboratory or field environment; and establishing program and objectives for a plant or crop genetic research study.

At The GS-13:

Qualifying experience for GS-13 includes one year of specialized experience comparable to GS-12 which is directly related to the work of this position and which has equipped the applicant with the knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform successfully the duties of the position. For this position, specialized experience is experience leading plant or crop genetic research in a laboratory or field environment; establishing program and objectives for a plant or crop genetic resources research study; and working with internal and external stakeholders regarding plant or crop genetic resources research.

At The GS-14:

Qualifying experience for GS-14 includes one year of specialized experience comparable to GS-13 which is directly related to the work of this position and which has equipped the applicant with the knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform successfully the duties of the position. For this position, specialized experience is leading plant or crop genetic research in a laboratory or field environment; establishing program and objectives for a plant or crop genetic resources research study; working with internal and external stakeholders regarding plant or crop genetic resources research; and coordinating research grant activities for a plant or crop genetic research study.

Experience refers to paid and unpaid experience, including volunteer work done through National Service programs (e.g., Peace Corps, AmeriCorps) and other organizations (e.g., professional; philanthropic; religious; spiritual; community, student, social). Volunteer work helps build critical competencies and can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience.