We are hiring! – North Carolina State University – Vegetable Pathology Lab, Quesada Lab. One PhD student (2023) and two postdocs (2022 if possible but 2023 potentially):

PhD Graduate Research Assistantship

Job tittle

PhD Graduate Research Assistantship

Location

Raleigh, North Carolina, United States

Job category

Graduate student

Education required

Bachelor’s degree

Start date

The candidate is expected to start in Spring (January 3rd of 2023) or Fall of 2023 (July 3rd of 2023).

Compensation

$32,000 stipend per year, plus tuition coverage throughout the duration of the degree, plus healthcare plan. Fees ($1,000 to $2,000 per year) are covered by the student.

Description

We have a fully funded PhD research assistantship for a doctoral student interested in learning about management of vegetable diseases through integrated strategies. The student will be working with pathogens of sweetpotato in aspects related to biology, fungicide resistance, detection, disease management, and/or population genetics. Other areas can also be considered depending on the student’s goals, and specific projects within this system will be developed collaboratively between the student, Dr. Quesada, and collaborators.

Projects in the lab are integrated and translational, and will provide the student with a broad skillset highly desirable for the job market that will include field experiments (fungicide and variety trials), lab experiments (pathogen phenotyping and propagation), and molecular biology experiments (diagnostics, genomics, and population analyses). Our lab is highly collaborative giving the candidate the opportunity to interact with other researchers involved in the project, as well as stakeholders interested in improvement of disease management strategies. We have excellent job placement track record for our lab members (academia, government, and industry) and candidates are encouraged to contact lab members and lab alumni for lab references.

The lab is located on the NC Plant Sciences Building at NC State University’s Centennial campus in Raleigh. NC State’s location in the Research Triangle Park provides unique opportunities for interactions with the Ag. Biotech industry including AgBiome, Novozymes, BASF, Syngenta, GreenLight BioSciences and the North Carolina Biotechnology Center; other major universities, including Duke University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; local research networking groups such as the North Carolina Microbiome Consortium; NC Department of Agriculture and several federal agencies.

Requirements

This project will involve field and lab work, collecting data, analyzing data, writing scientific and extension publications, and giving oral and poster presentations. The student should be able to work outside, have a strong understanding of word and number processing software, and be fluent in English. While having a previous M.Sc. degree can better prepare students for a Ph.D., it is not required for Ph.D. program admittance. We have had Ph.D. students in the lab before without a previous M.Sc. degree.

How to apply

Please email Dr. Lina Quesada lmquesad@ncsu.edu the following documents by July 29 of 2022:

• A 1-page cover letter or statement of purpose explaining your interest in a PhD degree in plant pathology
• Your curriculum vitae or resume
• Contact information for 3 references
• If you are an international student, your TOEFL scores if available
• Undergrad transcripts, they can be from a website, official transcripts are not required at the moment
• Indicate if you would be available for an in-person interview during the annual APS meeting. Applicants not attending the meeting will be interviewed via Zoom

Application screening process

We will be taking applications until July 29 of 2022

Here we outline a tentative timeline but this may change depending on applications received and candidate availability for interviews

• Zoom or in-person interviews during the annual APS meeting will be scheduled with select candidates in August-September
• A second set of interviews with select candidates will be set on September-October
• Selected applicants to be hired will be instructed to apply to NC State in November to become graduate students in 2023. Please make sure to check Graduate School and Departmental requirements and deadlines to apply. Any application fees are covered by the applicant
• Non-selected applicants will be notified that someone else was hired for the position

2 Two Postdoctoral Researcher Positions:

Job tittle

Postdoctoral researcher

Location

Raleigh, North Carolina, United States

Job category

Postdoc

Education required

Doctoral degree

Start date

The candidate is preferred to start in Fall of 2022 but the start date can be pushed to Spring of 2023 if needed.

Compensation

$48,000 – $51,000 per year, plus healthcare plan, plus other postdoc benefits.

Description

We invite applications for two Postdoctoral Researcher positions. The Postdocs will be responsible for performing research with either cucurbit downy mildew or sweetpotato diseases in aspects related to genomics (host resistance, pathogen detection), population genetics (impacts of management strategies on pathogen populations), and systems biology (using transcriptomics and metabolomics to characterize host-pathogen interactions). Other areas can also be considered depending on the candidate’s expertise and goals, and specific projects within these pathosystems will be developed collaboratively between the postdoc, Dr. Quesada, and collaborators.

Projects in the lab are integrated and translational, and will provide the student with a broad skillset highly desirable for the job market that will include field experiments (fungicide and variety trials), lab experiments (pathogen phenotyping and propagation), and molecular biology experiments (diagnostics, genomics, and population analyses). Our lab is highly collaborative giving the candidate the opportunity to interact with other researchers involved in the project, as well as stakeholders interested in improvement of disease management strategies. We have excellent job placement track record for our lab members (academia, government, and industry) and candidates are encouraged to contact lab members and lab alumni for lab references.

The lab is located on the NC Plant Sciences Building at NC State University’s Centennial campus in Raleigh. NC State’s location in the Research Triangle Park provides unique opportunities for interactions with the Ag. Biotech industry including AgBiome, Novozymes, BASF, Syngenta, GreenLight BioSciences and the North Carolina Biotechnology Center; other major universities, including Duke University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; local research networking groups such as the North Carolina Microbiome Consortium; NC Department of Agriculture and several federal agencies.

Requirements

This project will involve field and lab work, collecting data, analyzing data, writing scientific and extension publications, giving oral and poster presentations, and assisting with grant writing and reports. The Postdoc will also assist with activities related to lab management, training and supervision of other lab staff and stakeholders, and field trials.

This position requires a recent PhD degree (within the last 4 years) in plant pathology, plant-microbe interactions, microbiology, or evolution. Self-motivation, independence, good time management skills, and a high level of written and spoken English are required. Experience working with filamentous pathogens in a lab setting, using bioinformatic tools (Geneious or similar packages), experience in statistical analysis (R/SAS or similar statistical analysis platforms), demonstrated ability to publish scientific papers, ability to search and read scientific literature pertinent to job, mentor other staff, and developing new research protocols are also required. Experience with population genetics and evolutionary analysis of filamentous plant pathogens, analysis of Illumina and PacBio sequencing data, and coding experience (bash, perl, python) is a plus but not required.

How to apply

Please email Dr. Lina Quesada lmquesad@ncsu.edu the following documents by July 29 of 2022:

• A 1-page cover letter describing your qualifications for the position
• A 1-page abstract of your PhD Thesis/Dissertation
• Your curriculum vitae or resume
• Contact information for 3 references
• Indicate if you would be available for an in-person interview during the annual APS meeting. Applicants not attending the meeting will be interviewed via Zoom

Application screening process

We will be taking applications until July 29 of 2022

Here we outline a tentative timeline but this may change depending on applications received and candidate availability for interviews

• Zoom or in-person interviews during the annual APS meeting will be scheduled with select candidates in August
• A second set of interviews with select candidates will be set on September
• Selected applicants to be hired will be notified in October, and we will begin a hiring action with a start date agreed with the applicant
• Non-selected applicants will be notified that someone else was hired for the position