Manager Research - Agronomy Soil Instrumentation Lab

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Job description

Position Information:

Position Title:
Manager Research - Agronomy Soil Instrumentation Lab

Job Group:
Professional & Scientific

Required Minimum Qualifications:
Bachelor's degree and 5 years of related experience

Preferred Qualifications:
MS or PhD in Agronomy, Soil Science, Chemistry, Geochemistry, or related field
Experience with troubleshooting and maintaining equipment indicated in the job description
Experience educating users about instrument function, sample preparation, and quality control protocols
Experience with managing a budget

Job Description:

The Agronomy Department in the College of Agriculture and Life Science at Iowa State University seeks applicants for a Manager Research position to supervise day to day activities in the Agronomy Soil Instrumentation Laboratory.

The person in this position will maintain an array of analytical instrumentation used in organic and inorganic chemical analyses, educate, and advise users of the equipment in its operation and quality control of associated data, manage access to equipment, and manage budget and financial transactions for the laboratory.

Responsibilities of this position include:

• Provides access to functional analytical equipment when needed by faculty, staff, and students.
• Educates users (i.e., students, faculty, and staff) by personal instruction or recorded videos about instrument function, sample preparation, and quality control protocols.
• Troubleshoots and maintains both analytical equipment and associated preparation equipment.
• Manages lab space for processing samples when needed.
• Maintains stock of glassware and routine preparatory lab equipment.
• Provides and manages an internal repository for quality control data derived from the lab's instruments.
• Advises users about selection of appropriate testing methods and customization of test methods to suit their analytical needs.
• Manages access to instrumentation by scheduling clients to use the equipment.
• Promotes the equipment and available services by maintaining a website and contributing to the existing Agronomy Shared Lab website.
• Purchases reagents, gas tanks; advises users about purchasing reagents
• Assists with preparation of bulk reagents/standards for laboratory courses.
• Prepares and provide annual reports to the department about expenditure/income, equipment usage, samples processed and other relevant information.
• Seeks new and updated instrumentation that would benefit the department.
• Participates in writing proposals to purchase new equipment.
• Manages budget and financial transactions for the lab: (a) Sets per-sample (or other) prices for using the instruments. (b) Bills users on a subscription basis or on a per-sample basis, if necessary. (c) Manages preventive maintenance agreements when they are feasible. (d) Tracks expenses for equipment and consumables. (e) Plans depreciation schedules for major equipment.

Instrumentation responsible for:

• Inductively coupled argon plasma spectrometer
• Ion chromatograph
• Dry combustion elemental analyzer
• Atomic absorption spectrophotometer
• UV-visible spectrophotometer
• Carbon and nitrogen analyzer (liquid samples)
• Flow injection analyzer
• High-speed centrifuge

Level Guidelines
• Aware of key annual objectives of department or work unit
• Understands linkage between daily activities and achievement of annual objectives of department/work unit and explains to direct reports
• Focus on ISU's mission and meeting department or work unit goals
• Supervises a small department or work team
• Often is a working supervisor with direct, previous experience performing work of those supervised
• Has full management responsibility for direct reports, specifically the authority to hire, fire, and counsel; may share part of responsibility with higher level management
• Requests approval for financial actions beyond a limited scope per policy

Appointment Type:
Regular with Term Appointment (Fixed Term)

Proposed End Date or Length of Term:

January 9, 2023

Number of Months Employed Per Year:
12 Month Work Period

Time Type:
Full time

Pay Grade:
PS810

Application Instructions:

To apply for this position, please click on "Apply" and complete the Employment Application. Please be prepared to enter or attach the following:

1) Resume/Curriculum Vitae
2) Letter of Application/Cover Letter

If you have questions regarding this application process, please email or call or Toll Free: 1-.

Original Posting Date:
November 11, 2021

Posting Close Date:
December 14, 2021

Job Requisition Number:
R6878