The Biodiversity Knowledge Integration Center (BioKIC) at Arizona State University (ASU) invites applications for a postdoctoral position in biodiversity informatics and data publishing. The position is part of a new Biodiversity Data Science Initiative launched at ASU and led by Beckett Sterner and Nico Franz. The initiative will develop a next-generation solution to overcome the performance limits of taxonomic names as fundamental categories for grouping all forms of data about living things into scientifically meaningful units. Prevalent existing solutions bundle data by names alone, without accounting for changes in their scientific meanings, which causes incorrect data packaging and decision-making. Taxonomic intelligence provides the mapping between names and concepts that is necessary to resolve names accurately into meanings despite changing relationships across time and experts. The initiative will focus on building and promoting an innovative web platform that leverages theoretical advancements and prototype software for taxonomic concept alignment, with the goal to establish a scalable taxonomic intelligence service that will carry value for scientific audiences, science publishers, government agencies, and environmental consulting firms. The platform will accelerate the growth of high-quality, reproducible biological data by driving the adoption of taxonomic intelligence metadata in scientific datasets and journals.
Exploratory e-mail inquiries are strongly encouraged. Interested applicants should send a one-page research statement, clearly indicating their qualifications and motivation to join the project, Curriculum Vitae, and contact information for three references to beckett.sterner@asu.edu. The review of applications is now on a rolling basis and will continue until a suitable candidate has been found. The start date is flexible, though with a preference for an immediate start.
