Spatial Ecologist

CSS, Inc. is seeking Spatial Ecologist(s) with data analysis experience to join NOAA's National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS), Marine Spatial Ecology Division, which is a nationally recognized scientific research program that conducts spatial ecological analysis, statistical modeling, ecological forecasting, and predictive mapping to support marine ecosystem management, conservation, restoration and spatial planning. The candidate(s) will be employed by CSS to work on site at the NOAA National Ocean Service in Silver Spring, MD.

We seek candidate(s) with experience using scientific programming languages (e.g., R, Python) to fit a variety of advanced spatial/spatiotemporal statistical models to ecological data - including both physical and biological aspects of marine and coastal ecosystems. The successful candidate(s) will help support solutions to large, complex spatial and spatiotemporal ecological modeling challenges in the context of a changing climate, such as modeling of species' distributions, marine wildlife survey data, and/or physical, oceanographic, and geological aspects of marine habitat. Examples of potential projects include spatial and spatiotemporal modeling of marine species; benthic, estuarine and coastal habitats; and marine ecosystem structure (e.g., connectivity, biodiversity) in a variety of US jurisdictions.

Core responsibilities

• Provide statistical, computational, and analytical support for projects that use predictive models in conjunction with large ecological survey, habitat, and environmental databases, to provide spatially-explicit maps to address questions of climate change on marine management and conservation:
• Apply mapping, statistical, geospatial, or artificial intelligence techniques to analyze and process large volumes of data;
• Develop work plans and communication of task progress and scientific results in calls, meetings and conferences; and
• Contribute to peer-reviewed publications, presentations, and technical memoranda.
• Travel to federal and state laboratories, academic institutions, and field missions as part of collaborative research projects (