Assistant Specialist/Lowe-Power Lab

NATURE AND PURPOSE

The position of Specialist has a narrow focus in a specialized area and provides technical or specialized expertise (e.g., with instrumentation and research equipment or with social science research methods) in the planning and execution of a research project. The Specialist stays apprised of emerging issues and problems and maintains technical competence in the designated area(s) of specialization. Within this defined area and when appropriate, the Specialist is expected to provide leadership, facilitate teamwork and develop collaborative relationships with colleagues and to supply input into the planning of research and educational programs. Normally, Specialists do not have Principal Investigator (PI) status but may obtain permission by exception and/or collaborate with a PI in preparing research proposals for extramural funding. The Specialist is evaluated for merit and promotion using three basic criteria outlined below.

I. RESEARCH IN SPECIALIZED AREAS (90% EFFORT)

Overview:

The Ralstonia solanacearum species complex (RSSC) pathogens are regulated quarantine pests with negative impacts on agriculture and plant products. The primary purpose of this position is to compile and analyze public data on distribution and host range of Ralstonia solanacearum species complex (RSSC) plant pathogens, including the Select Agent (SA) group (known as "R3B2"), to make data easily accessible for decision making by stakeholders.

Major activities for the Specialist will include:

A. The incumbent is expected to refine an interactive, web-based dashboard that communicate patterns in RSSC diversity, geographic distribution, and host isolations of endemic and exotic RSSC lineages to APHIS and other stakeholders. The incumbent must have expertise in coding in the R language and a demonstrated ability to troubleshoot RShiny, HTML, CSS, GitHub, ggplot2, and plotly. Evaluation of performance in research activities to the individual project in RSSC diversity as documented by any of the following:

1. The incumbent is expected to leverage their expertise in the biology of RSSC phylotypes, RSSC geographic distribution, and RSSC host plants to build and improve visualizations that accurately communicate patterns.
   
   
2. The maintenance and improvement of an R Shiny dashboard.
3. The incumbent will be an active participant in disseminating the knowledge through publications, webinars, presentations, and other means stemming from the Specialist's research accomplishments.
4. The incumbent will strengthen the underlying RSSC dataset by consolidating data from the literature, curating the data to identify mistakes and to unify the data structure, and integrating the dataset into the dashboard.
5. The incumbent may recruit and train undergraduate researchers to strengthen the dataset.

B. The incumbent is expected to establish a structured dataset to consolidate experimentally determined host range data of RSSC strains. The incumbent will critically read and consolidate public data on RSSC disease progression from the literature. Hands-on experience with RSSC disease assays is a requirement for critical meta-analysis of the nuances of published RSSC disease progression data.

C. Mine public metagenomic sequencing data in SRA for RSSC sequences using a cost-effective hit-to-lead workflow. The incumbent will contribute to efforts to adapt the sourmash branchwater computational infrastructure to efficiently search publicly available, unassembled metagenomes in the NCBI sequence read archive (sra) to identify putative ecological reservoirs that harbor RSSC strains.

II. PROFESSIONAL COMPETENCE AND ACTIVITY (5% EFFORT)

A. Participate in appropriate professional/technical societies.

III. UNIVERSITY AND PUBLIC SERVICE (5% EFFORT)

A. Participate in the mentoring of undergraduate students in the Lowe-Power lab at UC Davis as appropriate.

M.S. degree in Integrated Genetics and Genomics or related field, required at time of start.

Prior research experience with plant pathogenic Ralstonia and prior experience developing interactive dashboards in RShiny are both required.

• 3-5 letters of reference required

As a condition of employment, the finalist will be required to disclose if they are subject to any final administrative or judicial decisions within the last seven years determining that they committed any misconduct, are currently being investigated for misconduct, left a position during an investigation for alleged misconduct, or have filed an appeal with a previous employer.

• "Misconduct" means any violation of the policies or laws governing conduct at the applicant's previous place of employment, including, but not limited to, violations of policies or laws prohibiting sexual harassment, sexual assault, or other forms of harassment, discrimination, dishonesty, or unethical conduct, as defined by the employer.
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