USDA-ARS Semiarid Rainfall-Runoff Modeling Through Time Fellowship
Application Deadline
6/19/2026 3:00:00 PM Eastern Time Zone
Description
*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), within the Southwest Watershed Research Center located in Tucson, Arizona.
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 mission of the USDA-ARS Southwest Watershed Research Center is to develop knowledge and technology for sound management of water, plants, and soil in semiarid regions. The unit’s core outdoor laboratory is the Walnut Gulch Experimental Watershed, a 150 km2 research site around the town of Tombstone, Arizona operating since 1953, and in addition there are 8 small experimental watersheds installed on the Santa Rita Experimental Range south of Tucson since 1975. The long-term hydrologic datasets are used to understand rainfall-runoff relationships and to develop and test the way processes are represented in simulation models. The specific goal of the project is to test trends in rainfall-runoff relationships that can be related to changes in the plant community and land cover, primarily based on Landsat imagery (1986-present).
Learning Objectives: Under the guidance of a mentor, the participant will learn all aspects of rainfall/runoff dataset collection and quality control, compare rainfall-runoff relationships through time for individual storms to determine the relative importance of volume, peak, and duration of the input hyetograph that result in the volume, peak, and duration of the output hydrograph. In addition, the participant will parameterize a detailed physically-based simulation model (Kineros2) to best fit the observed runoff measurements through time as a function of the number and location of precipitation gauges, spatial resolution of an input digital elevation model, soils (SSURGO or STATSGO), and land use land cover characteristics that vary over time to learn the relative importance of input quality and process representation in the simulation model.
Mentor(s): The mentor for this opportunity is Philip Heilman (phil.heilman@usda.gov). If you have questions about the nature of the research, please contact the mentor(s).
Anticipated Appointment Start Date: June 1 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 range is $60,000 - $63,000 annually.
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.PacificWest@orau.org and include the reference code for this opportunity.
Qualifications
The qualified candidate should have received a master's degree in one of the relevant fields. Degree must have been received within the past two years.
Preferred skills:
- Some hands-on experience with hydrologic data collection, especially in the southwest (highly spatially and temporally variable precipitation, ephemeral streams)
- Ability to program in Python
- Skill with GIS tools
Stipend
$60,000.00 – $63,000.00 Yearly
Point of Contact
Eligibility Requirements
- Citizenship: U.S. Citizen Only
- Degree: Master's Degree received within the last 24 month(s).