As the nation’s largest most comprehensive agriculture program, Texas A&M AgriLife brings together a college and four state agencies focused on agriculture and life sciences within The Texas A&M University System. With over 5,000 employees and a presence in every county across the state, Texas A&M AgriLife is uniquely positioned to improve lives, environments and the Texas economy through education, research, extension and service.

Click here to learn more about how you can be a part of AgriLife and make a difference in the world!

Position Information

Responsibilities:

Research (Primary Role)

Develop and implement a spatially explicit methodology for characterizing and prioritizing private working lands based on flood mitigation potential and land‑conversion risk.
Support creation of a Texas Coastal Prairie value–risk prioritization map to guide conservation investments.
Design, administer, and analyze a landowner survey grounded in Protection Motivation Theory and participatory GIS (PPGIS) to assess landowner perceptions, values, and willingness to engage in conservation programs.
Key role in helping ensure the effective translation of prioritization maps into on-the-ground stewardship, restoration, and conservation outcomes.

Extension & Outreach (Secondary Role)

Support facilitation of community workshops with landowners, conservation partners, and local decision‑makers to co‑produce knowledge and identify conservation pathways.
Contribute to the development of a decision‑support toolkit, including interactive maps, a dichotomous key for land evaluation, success‑story dashboards, and decision‑pathway tools for conservation opportunities.
Assist in delivering train‑the‑trainer workshops for conservation leaders using toolkit resources and project findings.

Required Qualifications:

Ph.D. in natural resources, geography, ecology, environmental science, agricultural economics, or a closely related field.

Preferred Qualifications:

Experience with survey design methodologies and software.
Strong quantitative and mixed‑methods skills.
Excellent written and oral communication skills.
Excellent communication skills and public engagement experience.
Experience with ecosystem services modeling or flood‑risk assessment.
Familiarity with rural or private landowner engagement, survey design, or community‑based research.
Knowledge of conservation easements, open‑space valuation, or land‑stewardship programs relevant to Texas working lands.
Experience collaborating with multi‑stakeholder teams (e.g., land trusts, Extension, state agencies).

Position Funding: This position is grant funded and availability is contingent on grant funding.

Why Work at Texas A&M AgriLife?

When you choose to work for Texas A&M AgriLife, you become part of an organization that is an established leader in agriculture and life sciences with a wide range of capabilities to meet the needs of our statewide, national, and international constituents.

In addition, Texas A&M AgriLife offers a comprehensive benefit package including the following:

Health, dental, vision, life and long-term disability insurance with Texas A&M AgriLife contributing to employee health and basic life premiums

12-15 days of annual paid holidays

Up to eight hours of paid sick leave and at least eight hours of paid vacation each month

Automatic enrollment in the Teacher Retirement System of Texas

Employee Wellness Initiative for Texas A&M AgriLife

Applicant Instructions

Applications received by Texas A&M AgriLife must either have all job application data entered or a resume attached. Failure to provide all job application data or a complete resume could result in an invalid submission and a rejected application. We encourage all applicants to upload a resume or use a LinkedIn profile to prepopulate the online application. Any questions, please contact Dr. Gerard Kyle @ Gerard.Kyle@ag.tamu.edu.

Required Documents

CV/ Resume

Cover letter

List of references

Certifications/additional documentation

All positions are security-sensitive. Applicants are subject to a criminal history investigation, and employment is contingent upon the institution’s verification of credentials and/or other information required by the institution’s procedures, including the completion of the criminal history check.

Equal Opportunity/Veterans/Disability Employer.