Climate Resilience Research Assistant
Dr. Gabrielle Wong-Parodi (Earth System Science and the Woods Institute for the Environment) and Dr. Paul Burow (Postdoc, Earth System Science) are seeking part-time undergraduate students in Earth Systems, or any field in the social sciences or related fields to support the Eastern Sierra Land & Community Survey, a social science research effort that is part of the Pinyon Community Climate Action (PiCCA) Project. The PiCCA project is a community-based research initiative to improve the social-ecological resilience of forests, communities, and landscapes to climate change in California’s Sierra Nevada. This study is a collaboration with researchers at UC Berkeley and Tribal, NGO, and agency partners throughout the Eastern Sierra, and is funded by the University of California Climate Action Research Initiative.
As part of this collaborative effort, Dr. Burow and Dr. Wong-Parodi are leading social science research to understand Eastern Sierra community perspectives around land use, environmental values, priorities for stewardship, and connections to place. The results from this work will be used to inform a community needs and values assessment and policy report, with the goal of expanding Tribal and broader community leadership in land stewardship to help support climate resilient landscapes.
We are employing the following methods of data collection:
- Interviews: We have conducted hundreds of interviews with a diverse range of community members, as well as separate policy interviews with federal land managers, Tribal leadership/staff, state agencies, municipal leadership/staff, and county leadership/staff.
- Focus groups: We have conducted more than a dozen focus groups with different affinity groups in the Eastern Sierra, including ranchers, conservationists, and Indigenous community members.
- Household survey: The team is currently rolling out a regional household survey, with the goal of collecting >1,000 responses throughout the fall to ensure a robust sample size.
We are seeking students excited about climate resilience, land stewardship, and community-based research to work part-time (10-20 hours a week) on our research team. The students will be responsible for interview and focus group data processing, household survey data collection and processing, and other research tasks as needed.
Successful candidates will have the unique opportunity to work closely with an interdisciplinary team of scholars across Stanford and UC Berkeley, as well as learn from community members across the Eastern Sierra region. The project is expected to last through the academic year.
Pay range: $22.19-$25/hour
Interested candidates should email the PiCCA project manager, Emma Sage (emmsage@stanford.edu) with a resume and cover letter explaining their interest in the position. If your application is a good fit for the project, we will follow up with you to schedule an interview.
- Processing, editing, and coding interview and focus group transcripts using qualitative data analysis software.
- Assisting with data collection for the household survey through phone-based survey enumeration,texting, and email support for respondents.
- Aiding with other data processing and analysis for publication of results from social scientific studies and policy analysis activities.
- Attending project coordination and team meetings.
- Undergraduate student in earth systems, social sciences, public policy, or closely related field.
- Interest in community-based research, climate resilience, cultural ecosystem services and landscape values.
- Experience with the design and conduct of social scientific research and/or processing qualitative data.
- Empathetic, ethical, and culturally-sensitive approach when engaging with diverse community members.
- Excellent verbal and written communications and interpersonal skills.
- Experience using NVivo, Otter.ai, or other software platforms for qualitative data analysis (preferred).
- Proficiency in Spanish (not required, but would allow for Spanish language translation).
