The Florida Museum of Natural History at the University of Florida (UF) seeks qualified applicants for a 12-month tenure-track Assistant Curator of Mammalogy. This position will be filled at the Assistant faculty level in the Florida Museum’s Department of Natural History. The Division of Mammalogy contains >35,000 specimens representing over 1,200 species from 25 of the 27 orders of mammals, with strengths in small mammals, primarily rodents and bats of the southeastern U.S., Caribbean, and South America. Through long-term federal, state, and regional collaborations, the collection established a significant marine mammal collection with >300 manatee and >800 cetacean specimens. The collection also houses one of the largest collections of Pakistani mammals in the Western Hemisphere as well as the largest holdings anywhere of the iconic Florida panther due to partnerships with state and federal agencies. More information on these resources is available at the webpage of the Division of Mammalogy. The Florida Museum supports a rich research community studying vertebrates in neontological, paleontological, and anthropological contexts. In addition to collections at the Florida Museum, research is facilitated by UF resources for genetics and genomics, 3D-imaging, and research field stations.
The Florida Museum of Natural History is the official state museum of Florida and is located on the campus of the University of Florida, the State of Florida’s flagship university and ranked No. 5 among the nation’s top public research universities by U.S. News and World Report. The Florida Museum’s mission includes stewardship of 40 million specimens and artifacts, award-winning exhibitions, diverse public programs, and emerging virtual and digital engagement. The research and collections programs of the Department of Natural History are world class and attract about $10 million annually in government and philanthropic support. The Florida Museum is a national and international leader in biodiversity informatics, enhanced by its formative role in iDigBio, the national hub for digitization of natural history specimens.
The Florida Museum, a college-level unit within UF, is a vibrant community of about 300 employees, including 29 full-time faculty, UF undergraduate and graduate students, postdoctoral research associates, and museum collections, education, and administrative support staff. The museum has dedicated labs for digital imaging, molecular genetics and genomics, and preparing skeletal specimens, as well as a new building dedicated to housing fluid-preserved collections. The Florida Museum enjoys cross-campus collaborations with many of the 16 UF colleges, including those of potential relevance to this new faculty position: Agricultural and Life Sciences (Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences), Education, Engineering, Libraries, Liberal Arts and Sciences, and Veterinary Medicine. Other campus resources likely of interest to the holder of this position include the UF Genetics Institute, UF Biodiversity Institute, and the Ordway-Swisher Biological Station that is part of National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON).
Qualifications
We seek to hire a creative scholar whose research and teaching are specimen-based and focus on mammals. We invite candidates who address questions in the broad field of Ecology and Evolution and who would contribute to and make use of the Florida Museum’s mammalogy collection. We anticipate that the successful candidate’s research would bolster current strengths (e.g., evolutionary biology, systematics, biogeography) and grow others (e.g., global change biology, disease ecology, microbiomes, species interactions, marine mammals, conservation biology). An ideal candidate will contribute to the museum’s goals of understanding, preserving, and interpreting biological diversity, and conduct research with opportunities for integrative collaborations with other faculty and divisions within Florida Museum. We especially encourage applications from candidates who contribute to the diversity, inclusivity, and excellence of the academic community, who have experience working with underserved and/or underrepresented students, scientists, and communities, and who are committed to building a more diverse, inclusive, and safe environment within our academic community.
Successful candidates should have a Ph.D. in Biology or a related field, conduct specimen-based research on mammals, and have evidence of excellence in research. Starting salary range for this position is $90,000 to $105,000 and negotiable based on experience.
Assistant Curator is equivalent to Assistant Professor and is a faculty-rank title at the University of Florida. This is a 12-month and tenure-accruing position.
For details and to apply, go to https://explore.jobs.ufl.edu/en-us/job/523761/ast-curator.
Review of applications will begin on October 24, 2022, and will continue until the position is filled.