USDA-ARS Understanding and Mitigating the Impact of Oat Crown Rust Disease in Crop Production
*Applications are reviewed on a rolling-basis.
ARS Office/Lab and Location: A research opportunity is currently available with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Agricultural Research Service (ARS), located in Saint Paul, Minnesota.
The Agricultural Research Service (ARS) is the U.S. Department of Agriculture's chief scientific in-house research agency with a mission to find solutions to agricultural problems that affect Americans every day from field to table. ARS will deliver cutting-edge, scientific tools and innovative solutions for American farmers, producers, industry, and communities to support the nourishment and well-being of all people; sustain our nation’s agroecosystems and natural resources; and ensure the economic competitiveness and excellence of our agriculture. The vision of the agency is to provide global leadership in agricultural discoveries through scientific excellence.
Research Project: The USDA Cereal Disease Lab strives to reduce losses in wheat, oat, and barley to cereal rusts and Fusarium head blight. Researchers at this unit discover, characterize, and deploy new sources of durable host resistance, investigate pathogen biology, genomics, and metabolomics, and conduct virulence monitoring of domestic and international isolates. The research project entails characterizing qualitative and quantitative oat crown rust disease resistance in diploid, tetraploid, and hexaploid oat species for utilization by oat breeders. Additionally, the participant will be a part of the annual crown rust virulence survey through data analysis, publication of results, and strategic planning.
Learning Objectives: The participant will gain skills in gene characterization, pathogen virulence monitoring, data analysis, statistics, bioinformatics, and machine learning methods for disease quantification. Through the course of the project, they will gain in-depth knowledge of issues and the latest research at the junction of plant pathology and plant breeding with a focus on cereal rusts and Fusarium through exposure to the lab's researchers, as well as academic and industry collaborators.
Mentor(s): The mentor for this opportunity is Shahryar Kianian (shahryar.kianian@usda.gov). If you have questions about the nature of the research, please contact the mentor(s).
Anticipated Appointment Start Date: 2025/2026. Start date is flexible and will depend on a variety of factors.
Appointment Length: The appointment will initially be for one year but may be renewed upon recommendation of ARS and is contingent on the availability of funds.
Level of Participation: The appointment is full time.
Participant Stipend: The participant will receive a monthly stipend commensurate with educational level and experience. The anticipated stipend is $6,717 monthly.
Citizenship Requirements: This opportunity is available to U.S. citizens only.
ORISE Information: This program, administered by ORAU through its contract with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to manage the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE), was established through an interagency agreement between DOE and ARS. Participants do not become employees of USDA, ARS, DOE or the program administrator, and there are no employment-related benefits. Proof of health insurance is required for participation in this program. Health insurance can be obtained through ORISE.
Questions: Please visit our Program Website. After reading, if you have additional questions about the application process, please email ORISE.ARS.Midwest@orau.org and include the reference code for this opportunity.
Qualifications
The qualified candidate should have received a doctoral degree in one of the relevant fields. Degree must have been received within the past five years.
Preferred skills:
- Plant Pathology
- Epidemiology of fungal plant pathogens
- Quantitative genetics
- Plant Breeding
- Genomics
Stipend
$6,717.00 Monthly
Point of Contact
Eligibility Requirements
- Citizenship: U.S. Citizen Only
- Degree: Doctoral Degree received within the last 60 month(s).