Research Technician
The Research Technician is a full-time, hourly position focused on conducting and analyzing experimental trials to identify deterrents that reduce sea turtle take at the St. Lucie Nuclear Power Plant. Responsibilities include conducting behavioral trials across day, dusk, and nighttime treatments, reviewing and coding animal behavior in recorded trials, maintaining the testing facility, managing data, and occasionally assisting with other onsite projects.
Functions & Responsibilities
Essential Functions
– Conduct behavioral trials in an outdoor test tank with wild-caught sea turtles during day, dusk, and nighttime testing periods
– Systematically review video footage of behavioral trials to evaluate efficacy of tested deterrents
– Enter recorded data into Access or similar databases
– Summarize and document behavioral data for project updates and regulatory reporting
– Monitor, operate, and maintain life support systems to ensure continuous operational readiness (e.g. pumps, heater, filtration, etc.)
– Perform daily maintenance on tanks and equipment (e.g., cleaning holding tanks, anti-corrosion practices, camera maintenance, monitoring water quality)
– Organize both physical hard drive and cloud-based data storage systems
– Release turtles after trials have concluded
– Adhere to safety guidelines when working in industrial and aquatic environments
Other Duties & Responsibilities
– Assist with data collection (morphometrics & tagging) and health assessments for captured sea turtles
– Assist other projects onsite as needed
– Participate in sea turtle stranding and recovery operations
– Participate in offshore boat surveys to collect sea turtle abundance data
Skills & Experience
Knowledge & Skills
Required Qualifications
– Ability to work outdoors in challenging conditions (inclement weather, heat, humidity, insects, etc.)
– Ability to comply with site-specific safety, access, and training requirements
– Proficiency in Microsoft Office (Excel, Access, Word, etc.) and Google Suite (Sheets, Docs, etc.)
– Must be safety conscious
– Must have the ability to work with others and have excellent communication skills
– Must have the capacity to work independently while exercising critical thinking, maintaining situational awareness, and adapting to changing environmental and operational conditions
– Flexibility to work weekends, holidays, and non-traditional hours
Preferred Qualifications
– Experience handling live, healthy sea turtles
– Experience or certification in life support systems
– Experience using hydrophones or other bioacoustic devices
– Experience reviewing video footage for animal research studies
– Experience using statistical methods to summarize large biological datasets
– Proficient in the safe operation of hand and power tools
– Experience trailering, driving ATVs and driving trucks
Education & Experience
Bachelor’s degree or higher in biology or a related field
Job Requirements
Physical Requirements
– Must be able to lift 60lbs and assist moving animals exceeding 100lbs
– Must be able to swim