UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST FAMILY FOREST RESEARCH CENTER
DATA ANALYTICS POSITION DESCRIPTION
A. GENERAL SUMMARY OF POSITION:
The employee will work collaboratively with Drs. Brett Butler and David Kittredge and other
members of the Family Forest Research Center (FFRC; www.familyforestresearchcenter.org).
The FFRC is a joint partnership between the University of Massachusetts Amherst and the
U.S. Forest Service Northern Research Station dedicated to increasing our understanding of
family forest owners. The work of the Data Analytics person will focus on efforts related to
the U.S. Forest Service’s National Woodland Owner Survey (NWOS;
B. EXAMPLES OF DUTIES:
The employee will work collaboratively with other FFRC members to develop tools and
methods to aid in the implementation, analysis, and interpretation of the NWOS. These efforts
will focus on: survey implementation automation; survey response processing; estimating
population-level attributes; generating camera-ready tables; tools for custom analyses; and
documentation. Efforts will be developed using a combination of R scripts/packages, LaTeX,
and other software packages.
C. MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS:
Strong aptitude for coding and programming. Demonstrable experience with R or an
equivalent statistical or coding software package. Desire to work in a team environment.
While not required, exposure to private forestry issues, experience with statistical sampling
and estimation procedures, or experience with survey implementation would be beneficial.
D. SALARY:
Salary will be commensurate with experience.
E. APPLICATION PROCESS:
Candidates should submit:
• A letter describing qualifications and experience,
• Curriculum vitae,
• Copies of college transcripts, and
• Names, phone numbers, and e-mail addresses of at least three references.
Applications materials should be sent to: .
F. FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
Contact: Brett Butler (; 413-545-1387)
Review of applications will begin on October 1, 2015 and the selected candidate will begin as
soon as possible.
The University of Massachusetts is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer. Women
and members of minority groups are encouraged to apply.