https://trustcareers.si.edu/en/postings/86a68378-0682-4ff4-9ea9-13804c08aaa9

Important Notice: Applicants are required to submit their research statement and provide three professional references as part of the application package. These sections are now enabled in the application system.

Applicants who submitted their application before these sections were added should revisit their application and upload the required information before the announcement closes. Applications that do not include all required documentation by the closing date may be considered incomplete.

Postdoctoral Scholar – Experimental Tests of Selection at seed to seedling transition, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute

The BCI-EDGE project seeks applications for a Postdoctoral Scholar in the area of Experimental Tests of Selection at seed to seedling transition, in the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. This postdoc will be part of BCI-EDGE, a multi-institution project focused on the evolutionary dynamics and genomic ecology of tropical forests, with datasets and analyses from research plots in Panama, including the Barro Colorado Island. The overarching goal is to understand the evolutionary processes that maintain tropical forest diversity. The project combines whole-genome sequencing, experimental ecology, and more than four decades of spatially explicit demographic data from one of the world’s best-studied tropical forests. Broadly, the project will test how ecological interactions, natural selection, natural enemies, hybridization, and environmental gradients shape genetic diversity, adaptation, and species coexistence in tropical tree communities.

The Aim 3 postdoctoral scholar will be based in Panama, and will direct experimental and observational studies of selection during the seed-to-seedling transition. This individual will design and oversee seed collection, seed burial experiments, seedling transplant studies, and fungal exclusion treatments, working closely with field technician(s) to ensure experimental implementation. The postdoc will coordinate genomic sampling of pre- and post-selection cohorts and lead analyses quantifying allele frequency shifts associated with viability selection and enemy-mediated mortality. By linking experimental outcomes to long-term ecological data and genomic patterns identified in Aims 1 and 2, this position will provide insight into how early-life selection shapes population genetic structure and contributes to the maintenance of diversity in tropical forests. 

The successful applicant should have the following skills:

1. Experimental design in field ecology (seed/seedling experiments, manipulative treatments, replication)
2. Population genomics of selection (allele frequency shifts, viability selection analyses, PoolSeq)
3. Plant–pathogen or plant–enemy interaction expertise (especially fungi and disease dynamics)
4. Data integration across experimental and observational datasets (linking experiments to genomic and ecological patterns)
5. Project management and supervision of field experiments (coordinating technicians, maintaining the experiment over time)

This is a  full-time, definite, trust-funded position. The vacancy is based in Panama and will be appointed at the Grade 11 level under the 2026 U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) General Schedule (GS) Pay Table. The appointment will be for a period of two (2) years, with the possibility of extension. 

For more information and to apply to this positions, please see the below links:  https://trustcareers.si.edu/en/postings/f299cd47-cc9b-4eda-9b35-256f00351bea    

Important Notice: Applicants are required to submit their research statement and provide three professional references as part of the application package. These sections are now enabled in the application system.

Applicants who submitted their application before these sections were added should revisit their application and upload the required information before the announcement closes. Applications that do not include all required documentation by the closing date may be considered incomplete.

University of California, Berkeley

Postdoctoral Scholar – Evolutionary Genomics, University of California, Berkeley

The postdoctoral scholar will be based in Berkeley, California, and will direct a subset of Aim 1 goals that are complementary to those of the coordinating postdoctoral scholar based in Panama. With expertise in population, comparative, and evolutionary genomics, the successful candidate will lead projects characterizing introgression, demographic history, and selection across species. This individual will travel periodically to Panama to interface with the other EDGE-BCI postdoctoral scholars.

The successful applicant should have the following skills:

1. Comparative genomics analyses (e.g. phylogenomics, gene family evolution, evolutionary constraint analyses, detection of  introgression/hybridization)
2. Population genomics analyses (e.g., coalescent-based and allele-frequency based including using resequencing and/or PoolSeq data, analysis of selection in multi-population datasets)
3. Prior experience managing and analysing large genomic datasets
4. Excellence in scientific writing 
5. Ability to thrive on a diverse team
6. Ability to travel to Panama periodically

For more information and to apply to this position, please see the below link:

https://aprecruit.berkeley.edu/JPF05399

Oregon State University/STRI

Postdoctoral Scholar – Community Genomics and Selection in Space and Time, Oregon State University/Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute

The postdoctoral scholar, based in Panama, will lead efforts to quantify how density-dependent ecological interactions shape genomic variation within the BCI forest community across different size classes/stages. This individual will coordinate spatially explicit genomic sampling within the 50-ha plot, integrating whole-genome resequencing data with long-term demographic records of recruitment, growth, and mortality. The postdoc will oversee field technicians collecting tissue and phenotypic data and will lead analyses testing for genetic signatures of selection across life stages, spatial neighborhoods, and temporal cohorts. A major focus will be linking genomic variation at candidate defense loci to patterns of survival, growth, and metabolomic traits, thereby providing a direct test of how CNDD acts as a selective force within natural populations. 

The successful applicant should have the following skills:

1. Statistical genomics and selection inference (e.g., detecting selection across life stages, spatial structure, temporal cohorts)
2. Integration of genomic data with long-term demographic datasets (e.g., ForestGEO data)
3. Spatial analysis and ecological modeling (neighborhood models, density dependence, spatial statistics)
4. Experience with whole-genome or population resequencing datasets
5. Field coordination in complex ecological systems (linking sampling design to hypothesis testing)

For more information and to apply to this position, please see the following link:

https://blogs.oregonstate.edu/joneslab/bci-edge-postdoctoral-scholar/