Employment Opportunities

The Community Science Institute (CSI) was founded in 2000 with a mission to foster and support scientifically rigorous water quality monitoring in partnership with community-based volunteer groups. For the past twenty years, CSI has recruited, trained, and coordinated groups of volunteers in the Finger Lakes Region of New York to participate in our four community-based water quality monitoring programs: Synoptic Stream Monitoring, Red Flag Monitoring, Biomonitoring, and Harmful Algal Bloom Monitoring. In partnership with over 30 groups comprising 250 volunteers, we continue to build long-term datasets of certified, regulatory quality data that can help guide the sustainable management of local water resources while empowering volunteers to act as stewards of water resources. Alone, these data speak volumes, but we help give them a voice through our outreach and education initiatives including our Water and Community forums, Water Bulletin Newsletter, summer 4-H2O Youth Education Program, Biomonitoring Open Lab nights, and Monthly Updates about CSI’s work published on our website.

CSI also offers fee-based, certified drinking water testing services for the Cayuga Lake region and counts the Tompkins County Health Department and Cornell University as well as a number of local businesses and hundreds of private homeowners among our clients. In this way we provide a valuable service to our community while earning fees that help support our nonprofit mission.

Our office and water quality testing lab, which is certified by the New York State Department of Health – Environmental Laboratory Approval Program (NYSDOH-ELAP) based on standards established by the National Environmental Laboratory Accreditation Conference (NELAC), seek an individual who is interested in using their administrative and laboratory skills to help support the sustainable management of water resources in New York’s Finger Lakes region as part of the CSI team.

Responsibilities and Opportunities of the Position: This position supports both core facets of CSI: the office and the laboratory. In the office, the successful applicant will connect clients and volunteers to our non-profit programming and water testing capabilities, while assisting with vital organizational functions. In the lab, the successful applicant will perform certified methods according to Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) approved by NYSDOH-ELAP. The lab work will include bacteriology and chemistry.

Administrative Responsibilities

• Provide customer service to CSI’s diverse clientele by discussing their water testing needs, educating clients about water quality issues, providing appropriate sample bottles and chain-of-custody forms, and logging samples into our state certified laboratory system.
• Handle all forms of payment from the general public and contract clients.
• Coordinate sample pickup with subcontract lab for appropriate samples.
• Prepare certified water test reports and invoices for general public and contract clients.
• May assist volunteer monitoring partnerships through volunteer coordination, field work, and preparation of sampling materials.
• Manage office supplies.
• Assist the executive director with finance-related tasks (e.g. make bank deposits, record transactions for financial tracking, file invoices, etc.).

Laboratory Responsibilities

• Achieve Demonstration of Capability in basic potability test, coli enumeration, turbidity, specific conductance, and titrations, and perform these assays on a regular basis, depending on lab and administrative workload.
• Assist with preparation of test kits, culture media, reagents, and laboratory standards.
• Help manage laboratory supplies.
• Assist with washing laboratory glassware.

Depending on the applicant’s interest and qualifications, opportunities exist to contribute to CSI’s outreach and education initiatives, including but not limited to writing articles for our Water Bulletin Newsletter, maintaining and developing CSI’s website, assisting with the analysis of datasets in our online database, and helping with our 4-H2O Youth Education program.

Please note: It is expected that the focus of work may shift throughout the course of the year in order to accommodate heavier laboratory workloads during the monitoring season. A successful applicant will be able to balance multiple responsibilities effectively.

Minimum qualifications

• Associates degree with at least one year of course work in chemistry or microbiology, preferably both
• Business or administrative experience
• Excellent time management, organization, attention to detail, and problem-solving skills
• Personable; comfortable working in a small team setting and communicating with a wide variety of people
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office
• Enthusiasm for CSI’s mission

Enhancing qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree or experience working or studying in a chemistry, geology, environmental science, or microbiology lab
• Familiarity with water chemistry and watershed science
• Experience with science communication or science education

Hours, compensation, and benefits: Full-time, 40 hours/week. Hourly rate $17.00–$19.00, depending on qualifications. Time-and-a-half for overtime. Seven paid federal holidays and ten paid free/vacation days per year. Vacation time is flexible and may include both paid and unpaid leave, depending on availability of other staff to cover the workload. Health insurance and pension plan are available.

Application: Please email 1) your resume, and 2) a cover letter outlining why you are interested in and well-suited for this position to: Dr. Stephen Penningroth, Executive Director, Community Science Institute, info@communityscience.org. Please note that both a resume and a cover letter are required for an application to be considered. Applications received by June 6^th will be given priority. The job will remain posted until the position has been filled. The goal start time for this position would be the first full week of July.

Inclusion statement: We encourage qualified applicants from historically underrepresented groups in the sciences to apply. We will fully consider all qualified applicants without regard to race, culture, ethnicity, national origin, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, disability, age, religion, lifestyle, marital status, or veteran status.