CIMMYT vacancy: Biometrician for African Maize Improvement
- Monday, 19 July 2010 15:20
CIMMYT vacancy: Biometrician for African Maize Improvement
The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) is seeking an innovative, results-oriented agricultural scientist with excellent skills in experimental design and statistics to support its cutting-edge maize improvement programs in Africa. CIMMYT’s high-impact maize breeding effort in eastern and southern Africa, strongly supported by leading development donors, serves smallholder farmers in some of the world’s most difficult and stress-prone environments. By joining our international team of plant breeders, geneticists, agronomists, and social scientists, you will have the opportunity to work on problems as diverse as estimating the performance of new varieties and management systems in farmers’ fields, controlling for soil variability in low-fertility fields to improve breeding precision, and understanding the fertilizer use and variety adoption patterns of smallholders in maize-legume farming system. A key task will be to use cutting-edge experimental design and statistical methods to increase the rate of genetic gain in African maize breeding. As an Africa-based member of the CIMMYT Crop Research Informatics Laboratory (CRIL), you will work closely with CIMMYT’s elite research teams, as well as with partners in advanced laboratories, seed companies, and national research programs world-wide, to improve the lives of African farmers and consumers who depend on maize for livelihoods and food security
We are seeking candidates with the following qualifications:
Interested applicants must possess:
- A PhD in statistics, biometrics, or plant breeding
- Demonstrated understanding of agricultural research
- Excellent statistical computing skills, including proficiency in R, SAS, and GENSTAT
- The ability to work effectively in multi-disciplinary and multicultural teams
- Strong organizational skills and leadership skills
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills in English.
Deadline for applications: 31st August 2010
For more details on the position and on how to apply, please see the Vacancy Announcement.