Research Assistant

Research Assistant

Founded in 1987 by the late David Packard, MBARI is a nonprofit oceanographic research center advancing marine science and engineering to understand our changing ocean. Located in Moss Landing, California, the heart of the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, MBARI offers ready access to the open ocean and deep sea. Ongoing research programs range across autonomous and remotely operated underwater vehicle systems, control technologies, ocean physics, chemistry, geology, biology, ocean instrumentation, and information management. MBARI hosts approximately 200 employees, with shore facilities that include state-of-the-art science and engineering laboratories, manufacturing and electrical fabrication shops, and dock facilities for MBARI vessels.

MBARI has a position open for a Research Assistant. This position will spend time in the lab and at sea collecting and analyzing data. It is a 6-month temporary position.

Primary responsibilities:

• Collection of environmental DNA (eDNA) samples at sea; time at sea may on the order of several weeks.

This includes retrieving water from CTD casts, filtering the water and preserving the filters for analysis in the laboratory.

• Supporting processing of the samples in the laboratory

• Data analysis, requires knowledge of eDNA data and R

• Ensures professional working relations with co-workers and customers; Must be able to work with diverse groups of people.

Required qualifications:

• Experience with eDNA sample collection and processing (DNA extraction, PCR, etc.)

• Experience with statistical analysis of eDNA results

• Must be able to work independently and productively with minimum supervision and able to manage multiple tasks.