Physical Science Technician

Applicants must meet all qualifications and eligibility requirements by the closing date of the announcement including specialized experience and/or education, as defined below. GS-7 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: Qualifying experience for GS-07 includes one year of specialized experience comparable to GS-06 which is directly related to the work of this position and which has equipped the applicant with the knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform successfully the duties of the position. For this position, specialized experience is experience collecting, preparing, evaluating or verifying sediment samples; maintaining office and field equipment; and supporting installation of field equipment. OR Education: Successfully completed one full year of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to a Master’s or equivalent graduate degree, if directly related to the position. Related degrees include geography, meteorology, earth science, engineering, biology. OR A qualifying combination of graduate education and experience as described above. GS-8 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: Qualifying experience for GS-08 includes one year of specialized experience comparable to GS-07 which is directly related to the work of this position and which has equipped the applicant with the knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform successfully the duties of the position. For this position, specialized experience is experience setting up weather stations; building solar power systems for weather stations; and collecting environmental monitoring data. OR Education: Two full years of graduate-level education or a Master’s degree, if directly relate to the position. Related degrees may include geography, meteorology, earth science, engineering, biology. OR A qualifying combination of graduate education and experience as described above. GS-9 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: Qualifying experience for GS-09 includes one year of specialized experience comparable to GS-08 which is directly related to the work of this position and which has equipped the applicant with the knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform successfully the duties of the position. For this position, specialized experience is experience programming and setting up weather stations; calibrating monitoring equipment; and maintaining inventory of monitoring equipment. OR Education: Two full years of graduate-level education or a master’s degree, if directly relate to the position. Related degrees may include geography, meteorology, earth science, engineering, biology. OR A qualifying combination of graduate education and experience as described above. 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.
This position is located within the Agricultural Research Service, Plains Area, Range Management Research Unit, Las Cruces, New Mexico. The position will provide technical support to the Unit to acquire and manage field and laboratory data to support long-term meteorological and sediment transport monitoring and experiments, in all phases of research. This is a term, time-limited appointment with an initial duration no less than 13 months and can be extended up to a total of 10 years.