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As a Biological Scientist, you will work at a laboratory within Plant Protection and Quarantine (PPQ), Science and Technology (S&T), collaborating with scientists and technical personnel in APHIS, ARS, universities, the private sector, and foreign organizations to develop, evaluate, enhance, and maintain the quality of PPQ's exclusion, detection, quarantine, eradication, treatment, inspection, and response programs.


The duties may include, but are not limited to:

  • Providing scientific leadership in qualitative and quantitative analyses in support of the management of invasive species, including arthropods, diseases and other plant pests.
  • Obtaining, validating, and analyzing data related to pest identification and diagnostics.
  • Developing methods of detection and inspection for survey of quarantine-significant pests, and estimates of probabilities of detecting pest population size.
  • Designing, evaluating, and optimizing comprehensive strategies for detecting incipient populations of exotic pests of plants.
  • Developing, adapting, and/or evaluating tools, methods, and technologies for use by PPQ programs for mitigating effects of populations of introduced plant pests.
  • Developing, adapting, and/or evaluating methods and equipment for phytosanitary treatment of commodities, packaging materials, and means of conveyance.
  • Consulting with APHIS and cooperating scientists as an expert in identification of pests and diseases, as needed.
  • Assisting PPQ personnel with the transfer of technology of research products into policy and operational programs.
  • Representing APHIS and making presentations at scientific and technical working groups, and program review meetings and workshops. May serve as leader of a group or team, as appropriate.

Conditions of Employment

  • You must be a US Citizen or US National.

BASIC REQUIREMENT: Degree in biological sciences, agriculture, natural resource management, chemistry, entomology, plant pathology, botany, taxonomy, zoology or other biological science or related disciplines appropriate to the position.

OR

Combination of education and experience: post high school education with courses equivalent to a major, which is defined as 24 semester/36 quarter hours, in the biological sciences, agriculture, natural resources management, chemistry or related disciplines appropriate to the position, PLUS appropriate experience or additional course work.

In addition to meeting the basic requirement, applicants must meet the following qualification requirement.

FOR THE GS-12 LEVEL: Applicants must have one year of specialized experience (equivalent to the GS-11 level) that may have been obtained in the private or public (local, county, state, Federal) sectors which demonstrates:

  • Experience developing and publishing protocols for molecular or morphological methods for identification of biological organisms.
  • Experience participating in writing grant proposals for funding research projects.
  • Experience as a biological laboratory team lead, with responsibilities for purchasing supplies and equipment.
  • Experience analyzing genomic data derived from nucleic acid sequencing.
  • Experience building web-based image-driven tools for identification of biological organisms.