Summary of Duties:
A Postdoctoral Research Associate position is available
in the Center for Sustaining Agriculture & Natural Resources, with work location to be determined. Teleworking may be an option.The project offers a unique opportunity to work at the intersection between research and active policy development.
The project funded by the Washington State Legislature, aims toevaluate
existing models to estimate carbon sequestration from organic waste-derived soil amendment application to agricultural soils, road-test their applicability in Washington State, and recommend next steps that outline a path towards developing more advanced mechanisms
to support funding for carbon sequestration from Washington’s organic wastes. Additional funding to support the position comes from the Soil Health Initiative, a state-funded plan for research, extension, and demonstration of soil health best management
practices in Washington State. The postdoctoral researcher will:
- Review existing mechanisms currently being used or proposed in the U.S. to provide funding for carbon sequestration on agricultural lands, and the models/methods being proposed to quantify the carbon
sequestration benefit within these frameworks.
- Catalog existing Washington State soil carbon data collected on agricultural sites, including those receiving organic amendments, and explore their potential use to evaluate the applicability of and
/ or tune these models/methods to Washington State data.
- Road test the most promising models/methods using existing soil carbon data from Washington State.
- As time allows modify existing tools applicable within the context of Washington State.
- Publish findings in peer reviewed manuscripts .
- Provide a report to the Washington State Legislature summarizing the work and laying out a roadmap for continued progress.