Senior Research Associate

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The Cooperative Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Studies (CIMAS) at the University of Miami, Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science has an exciting full time opportunity for a Sr. Research Associate I. The position is located at the NOAA Southeast Fisheries Science Center (SEFSC) Marine Mammal and Turtle Division in Miami, FL. The research includes passive acoustic studies of marine mammals and anthropogenic noise sources in the Gulf of Mexico, the North Atlantic, and the Caribbean, contributing to understanding marine mammal ecology and restoration project evaluation related to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

Collaboration involves scientists from SEFSC and partners including Scripps Institution of Oceanography, Universidad Veracruzana, and Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico.

The incumbent will utilize a solid foundation in acoustic analysis techniques to support core missions of the SEFSC Marine Mammal Branch. Beneficial experience includes noise estimation, acoustic filtering, and AIS vessel data processing. Experience developing and evaluating automated bioacoustic signal detectors and classifiers and working with large multi-year acoustic and AIS datasets is preferred. Programming experience is essential;
Matlab and R are preferred.

The project includes project management and analytical work for passive acoustic data from research surveys focusing on marine mammal ecology. Analytical work includes detecting and classifying marine mammal calls and noise signals, characterizing seasonal variability in occurrence and distribution, and associating AIS-based vessel data with acoustic recordings. Technical writing to disseminate results and project management covering fieldwork logistics, workshops, webinars, communication with stakeholders, and report writing are expected.

The project may involve both analytical and fieldwork. Location is the SEFSC laboratory in Miami, FL.

The incumbent will work with minimal daily supervisory oversight but will periodically report to CIMAS and SEFSC staff and will be under the general supervision of the Director of CIMAS. Progress will be reported to the Director of CIMAS and the SEFSC advisor, with technical guidance from SEFSC and CIMAS staff.

• Develop, implement, and evaluate manual and automated methods to detect and classify biological and anthropogenic sound sources in long-term acoustic recordings, including identifying calls of acoustically known and unknown marine mammal species.
• Evaluate detector performance, including false alarm and missed call rates.
• Characterize and compare spatiotemporal occurrence and variability in marine mammal call detections and anthropogenic and natural noise sources.
• Perform soundscape characterization analyses, including evaluating ambient noise as the statistical distributions of sound pressure spectrum levels and identifying main components of the soundscape (e.g., shipping, seismic surveys).
• Manage and analyze AIS vessel traffic data and relate it to acoustic recordings to improve understanding of shipping and seismic survey noise sources.
• Manage and analyze large datasets efficiently, including QA/QC and archiving raw data and analytical results from passive acoustic moorings.
• Perform project management including fieldwork logistics, leading workshops and webinars, communicating with team members and stakeholders, and writing reports.
• Use software to assemble, manipulate, and format data and write reports, including customizing analyses with basic programming skills.
• Write reports and present findings in scientific settings, including peer-reviewed publications.
• Execute multiple projects, provide frequent status reports, and identify and communicate challenges to project success to meet goals and deadlines.
• Work in a team and collaborate with SEFSC and CIMAS staff.
• May participate in multiday fieldwork for acoustic data collection and oceanographic instrument deployment.
• Provide additional ad hoc program duties as assigned.

Required education and experience: Master’s degree in marine mammalogy, bioacoustics, ocean sciences, or related field and 3 years of relevant experience. This includes bioacoustics experience detecting and classifying bioacoustics and noise signals in passive acoustic data, statistical analyses of spatiotemporal occurrence, generating reports/manuscripts, and working with large, multi-year passive acoustic and AIS datasets. Ability to assist with planning fieldwork, meetings, and workshops, and willingness to participate in fieldwork didates with experience in automatic detection performance evaluation, acoustic localization and tracking of cetaceans, acoustic…