Supervisory Research Chemist/Plant Pathologist/Physiologist

* Duties Help Duties Summary This position is located within the United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Natural Products Utilization Research Unit (NPURU) located in Oxford, Mississippi. The Research Unit's mission is to develop natural products for use in agriculture in order to produce more toxicologically and environmentally benign pest management tools and to improve the nutraceutical value of crops. Learn more about this agency Responsibilities * Provides leadership for Unit research that identifies and develops natural products for potential pest management use; for adding value to existing crops, and/or for identification of possible alternate crops. * Provides leadership for Unit research that improves crop protection from pests through the use of natural products, either by discovering safer natural pesticides or by manipulating their production in plants by genetic engineering or other means. * Maintains and enhances the creativity and productivity of the Unit; hiring personnel and managing the human, fiscal, and physical resources assigned to the Unit. * Collaborates with USDA/ARS, national and international scientists, farmers, commodity groups, universities, industrial partners as well as government agencies in research oriented towards developing natural product-based pest management solutions. Travel Required Occasional travel - You may be expected to travel for this position. Supervisory status Yes Promotion Potential 15 * Job family (Series) 0434 Plant Pathology 0435 Plant Physiology 1320 Chemistry Similar jobs * Chemists * Physiologists, Plant * Plant Physiologists * Requirements Help Requirements Conditions of Employment * You must be a US Citizen or US National * Males born after 12/31/1959 must be Selective Service registered or exempt * Subject to satisfactory adjudication of background investigation and/or fingerprint check * Subject to one-year supervisory/managerial probationary period unless prior service is creditable. New USDA supervisors must successfully complete all components of the required training program before the end of their probationary period. * Direct Deposit - Per Public Law 104-134 all Federal employees are required to have federal payments made by direct deposit to their financial institution. * Successfully pass the E-Verify employment verification check. To learn more about E-Verify, including your rights and responsibilities, visit E-Verify at https://www.e-verify.gov/. * Successful completion of a three year probationary period. 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 Plant Pathology (0434) Series: Degree: plant pathology; or a related scientific discipline that included at least 20 semester hours in basic botany or plant science, and 10 semester hours in plant pathology Plant Physiology (0435) Series: Degree: botany or plant physiology; or a related scientific discipline that included at least 10 semester hours in plant physiology Chemistry (1320) Series: Degree: physical sciences, life sciences, or engineering that included 30 semester hours in chemistry, supplemented by course work in mathematics through differential and integral calculus, and at least 6 semester hours of physics. OR Combination of education and experience -- course work equivalent to a major as shown in A above, including at least 30 semester hours in chemistry, supplemented by mathematics through differential and integral calculus, and at least 6 semester hours of physics, plus appropriate experience or additional education. Additional Requirements In addition to meeting the basic requirements described above, applicants must also meet additional qualification requirements as stated below. 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-14: Applicants must demonstrate at least one full year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the GS-13 grade level in the Federal service. Specialized experience is experience directly related to the position to be filled. The specialized experience requirements for the GS-14 level of this position are: identifying and developing natural products for potential pest management use; improving crop protection from pests through the use of natural products, either by discovering safer natural pesticides or by manipulating their production in plants by genetic engineering or other means; and authored or coauthored recent publications involving pest management. At the GS-15: Applicants must demonstrate at least one full year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the GS-14 grade level in the Federal service. Specialized experience is experience directly related to the position to be filled. The specialized experience requirements for the GS-15 level of this position are: identifying and developing natural products for potential pest management use; improving crop protection from pests through the use of natural products, either by discovering safer natural pesticides or by manipulating their production in plants by genetic engineering or other means; authored or coauthored recent publications involving pest management; and providing technical advice and supervision to staff. 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. Supervisory/Managerial Competencies - the following KSAs will also be used to evaluate candidates in the interview and selection process:1. Ability to lead and accomplish work through others (i.e. team building, conflict management, cultural awareness, strategic thinking, technology management, and political savvy.)2. Ability to communicate with individuals or groups from diverse backgrounds in a variety of situations To further support your qualifications, it is strongly recommended that you submit a one-page abstract of your MS thesis and/or Ph.D. dissertation. Failure to do so could result in loss of your consideration/referral. Also, please submit a list of names, addresses, and phone numbers of persons familiar with your stature, contributions, recognition; any honors or awards received; memberships in professional or honor societies; invitations to make presentations at scientific/technical meetings; scientific society office and committee assignments; presentations (other than invitation); and publications. Applicants must be available to report for duty at the time a selection is made. Selections are typically made within 30 days of the closing date of the announcement. Education Please see above for education qualification requirement information.

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