USDA-ARS Postdoctoral Research Computational Biology Fellowship

*Applications are reviewed on a rolling-basis.

ARS Office/Lab and Location: A research opportunity is currently available with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Agricultural Research Service (ARS), located in Byron, Georgia.

The Agricultural Research Service (ARS) is the U.S. Department of Agriculture's chief scientific in-house research agency with a mission to find solutions to agricultural problems that affect Americans every day from field to table. ARS will deliver cutting-edge, scientific tools and innovative solutions for American farmers, producers, industry, and communities to support the nourishment and well-being of all people; sustain our nation’s agroecosystems and natural resources; and ensure the economic competitiveness and excellence of our agriculture. The vision of the agency is to provide global leadership in agricultural discoveries through scientific excellence.

Research Project: Research will be focused on the development of bioinformatic and genomics tools to characterize the structure and function of plant, insect, and fungal genomes related to pecan cultivar development. Application of sequence resources from plants, pests, and pathogens will be directed towards accelerating the improvement of pecan cultivars through the discovery of novel genetic variation, development of genomic-assisted management techniques, or other applications of genomic technology in pecan production systems. Under the guidance of a mentor, you will have the opportunity to be involved in the following aspects of the project:

• Developing and customizing pipelines for automation of data processing required for genome assembly and pangenomes using a combination of short- and long-read technology, including chromosome confirmation capture sequences.
• Developing genome annotation pipelines from existing methods to apply to genomic resources, or to develop novel genome annotation methods to apply towards existing genomic resources.
• Developing and customizing pipelines for automation of data processing required for discovering genetic (e.g., SNP, CNV) and epigenetic (e.g., DNA methylation) variations to support eco-evolutionary studies, QTL mapping, or other applications of genomic sequence variation.

Learning Objectives: By the end of this training/research experience, you will be able to:

• Explain the structure and functional organization of plant, insect, and/or fungal genomes and describe how genomic tools are used to characterize genetic and epigenetic variation.
• Identify and differentiate types of genomic variation (e.g., SNPs, CNVs, DNA methylation patterns) and functional genomic elements (e.g., enhancers, promoters) in focal species.
• Customize bioinformatics pipelines for automated processing and analysis of short- and long-read sequencing data.
• Apply computational approaches to detect genetic and epigenetic variation from sequencing datasets in focal species.
• Generate genome assemblies from long-read sequence data and build pangenomes.
• Design and implement statistical methods for QTL mapping and association studies, and interpret their results in the context of economically important traits.
• Evaluate and improve genomic prediction models for use in cultivar development programs.
• Gain experience generating genome assembly pipelines for use in focal species.

Mentor(s): The mentor for this opportunity is Karl Fetter (karl.fetter@usda.gov). If you have questions about the nature of the research, please contact the mentor(s).

Anticipated Appointment Start Date: September 1, 2026. Start date is flexible and will depend on a variety of factors.

Appointment Length: The appointment will initially be for one year, but may be renewed upon recommendation of ARS and is contingent on the availability of funds.

Participant Stipend: The participant will receive a monthly stipend commensurate with educational level and experience. The anticipated stipend is $5,845 monthly, with a $1,945.35 health insurance supplement and $3,000 for travel.

Level of Participation: The appointment is full time.

Citizenship Requirements: This opportunity is available to U.S. citizens only.

ORISE Information: This program, administered by ORAU through its contract with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to manage the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE), was established through an interagency agreement between DOE and ARS. Participants do not become employees of USDA, ARS, DOE or the program administrator, and there are no employment-related benefits. Proof of health insurance is required for participation in this program. Health insurance can be obtained through ORISE.

Questions: Please visit our Program Website. After reading, if you have additional questions about the application process, please email ORISE.ARS.Southeast@orau.org and include the reference code for this opportunity.

Salary : $5,845