Marine Theme Coordinator – Encyclopedia of Life
Filed under: Employment - Science Community,News & Resources
The Encyclopedia of Life (EOL) seeks a half-time biologist to coordinate its efforts on marine organisms.
Encyclopedia of Life is a global collaboration assembling web pages for each of the species now known to be present on Earth, with all information freely accessible or discoverable through a single portal. Over the next five years, the EOL aims to (a) generate a million species pages, each one of which will be verified by an expert, (b) digitize a large portion of biodiversity literature, (c) generate educational materials for students, schools and universities and (d) become a resource to generate new synthetic knowledge about the world’s biodiversity.
EOL is undertaking a Marine Theme, which will involve assembling pages for 90% of the world’s 230,000 marine species by 2012. To achieve this ambitious goal, EOL will collaborate with many of its current partners who are concerned with marine biodiversity. It will also need to engage new partner projects and stimulate new contribution activities. To this end, EOL has forged a partnership with Ocean Leadership, and its Census of Marine Life project.
The Census of Marine Life is a global network of researchers in more than 80 nations engaged in a 10-year scientific initiative to assess and explain the diversity, distribution, and abundance of life in the oceans. CoML’s 17 field projects touch the major habitats and groups of species in the global ocean, and synthesis, mapping, and outreach teams ensure integration and dissemination of the results in 2010.
The Marine Theme Coordinator will be a member of the Species Pages Group which is hosted, along with the Secretariat, by the National Museum of Natural History of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC. The Marine Theme Coordinator works under the supervision of the Director of the Species Pages Group and may spend at least one day a week on site at the offices of the Census of Marine Life, also in Washington, DC.
The EOL is currently supported by grants from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.
Major responsibilities:
As delegated by the Director of the Species Pages Group, and in close collaboration with the Census of Marine Life, the Marine Theme Coordinator:
- Assists in developing and supporting EOL’s relationships with institutions, organizations, and individuals who provide marine-related content for species pages.
- Collaborates with the other EOL components, especially the Education and Outreach Group and Biodiversity Informatics Group, to ensure that marine activities are well supported by tools and educational programs. Helps to support the scientific community and the general public as they use EOL tools.
- In cooperation with EOL’s Biodiversity Synthesis Group (biosync.eol.org), assists in planning and implementing international marine-related meetings. These meetings may involve the synthesis of taxon-specific plans for preparing marine species pages, the use of EOL for synthetic marine research, or the use of EOL in marine-related educational activities.
- Assists in developing and supporting networks of individuals who act as curators (authenticators) of information on EOL marine species pages, in part through communication with national and international marine science societies and other organizations.
- Represents the EOL and its partners as a scientific, technical, and programmatic expert at national and international marine-related meetings, workshops, conferences, and presentations.
- Other duties as assigned.
Qualifications:
- Graduate degree (PhD preferred) in biological sciences or related field
- Excellent knowledge of the marine science community and its organizations
- Excellent interpersonal and networking skills
- Good understanding of biodiversity informatics and social networking
- Must be fluent in written and spoken English; working knowledge of at least one other language desirable
For additional information on the Encyclopedia of Life, visit the website at www.eol.org. For more information about the Species Pages Group or this position, contact the Director, Cynthia Parr, at parrc@si.edu, 202.633.8730.
This is a one-year, temporary, half-time position with benefits, with the potential for subsequent extensions. The position is supported by grant funding and is eligible for the Smithsonian’s trust benefit program.
To Apply:
E-mail your CV and cover letter to the species pages group at parrc@si.edu. Please write ‘Marine Theme Coordinator’ in the subject line.
Review of applications will begin July 31, 2009.
EOL and the Smithsonian Institution are Equal Opportunity Employers.
