Research Assistant - Tropical Wildfires

About Woodwell Climate Research Center

Woodwell Climate Research Center is an independent, nonprofit institution dedicated to climate science that informs impactful policies at the intersection of climate, human communities, and natural ecosystems. The organization pursues cutting-edge research and outreach to drive urgent actions necessary to mitigate the climate crisis globally.

Job Summary

As a member of the Tropical Wildfire team, you will support investigative efforts addressing wildfires, deforestation, forest degradation, and climate impacts in tropical landscapes, primarily focusing on the Amazon and Cerrado regions. This role involves extensive spatial and statistical analyses, collaboration with domestic and international scientists, researchers, and practitioners involved in wildfire management and environmental governance.

Key Responsibilities

• Assist in examining the notable 2024 wildfire season in the Brazilian Amazon.
• Contribute to studies investigating environmental and anthropogenic drivers of tropical fires, disturbances, and opportunities to enhance ecosystem protection and climate resilience.
• Integrate diverse spatial datasets related to fire occurrences, land cover, land tenure, administrative jurisdictions, and institutional roles.
• Collaborate closely with Brazilian researchers and partners working in fire management and governance.
• Manage, organize, document, and perform quality control on large-scale spatial and tabular datasets.
• Conduct geospatial analyses concerning wildfire, deforestation, forest health, governance frameworks, climate variables, and ecosystem dynamics.
• Develop and maintain reproducible analytical workflows employing tools such as Google Earth Engine, Python, R, GIS software, and AI-enabled applications.
• Document code, metadata, data management procedures, and analytical protocols clearly and thoroughly.
• Leverage contemporary AI tools for coding assistance, data analysis, literature synthesis, and problem-solving while critically assessing their outputs for scientific accuracy and validity.
• Explore machine learning and AI approaches relevant to environmental and remote sensing data analysis.
• Integrate satellite remote sensing, environmental variables, administrative boundaries, and other geospatial information for comprehensive analysis.
• Perform rigorous statistical analyses and support interpretation of results, addressing uncertainties and methodological constraints.
• Produce high-quality maps, visualizations, tables, and data summaries suitable for publication.
• Conduct comprehensive literature reviews and synthesize scientific evidence related to project topics.
• Contribute to drafting scientific manuscripts, technical reports, presentations, funding proposals, and policy-oriented documents.
• Actively participate in project meetings, providing clear updates on progress, analytical challenges, and methodological choices.
• Flexibly support additional tropical wildfire program research tasks as project demands evolve.
• Work with datasets, literature, and collaborators based in Brazil.

Required Knowledge and Skills

• Expertise in geospatial data processing and analysis utilizing relevant programming languages and analytics software.
• Proficiency in R for data manipulation, statistical modeling, and scientific visualization.
• Experienced user of GIS tools such as QGIS or ArcGIS.
• Capability to manage and analyze large, complex spatial and tabular datasets.
• Strong understanding of data quality assurance, reproducibility in research, metadata standards, and thorough documentation practices.
• Excellent quantitative reasoning, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills, including the ability to identify errors, assess assumptions, manage uncertainty, and troubleshoot analytical workflows.
• Ability to acquire new analytical techniques, datasets, and software rapidly, and to prioritize multiple tasks effectively to meet project deadlines.
• Strong communication skills in both written and verbal formats.
• Work well independently on specific tasks and collaboratively within multidisciplinary teams.
• Professional engagement with research partners from diverse institutional and cultural backgrounds.
• Demonstrated strong interest in climate change, tropical ecology, wildfire science, deforestation, forest health, conservation, and environmental governance.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience handling satellite remote sensing data.
• Familiarity with tropical forest and savanna ecosystems, especially in the Amazon or Cerrado regions.
• Experience with land tenure, governance, or fire management datasets.
• Working knowledge of Git or GitHub version control systems.
• Track record contributing to scientific publications or policy-related documents.
• Bilingual proficiency in English and Portuguese preferred.
• Willingness and ability to travel occasionally.

Educational Background

Bachelor’s degree in relevant fields such as biological sciences, ecology, geography, environmental science, remote sensing, data science, or closely related disciplines.

Work Environment and Hours

This role is primarily an indoor position. Although a salaried role, the expectation is generally 40 hours per week on a Monday through Friday schedule with flexibility required to fulfill job responsibilities adequately.

Compensation and Location

The position offers an annual salary starting at $50,000, commensurate with qualifications and experience. Pay may be adjusted based on geographic location. Woodwell Climate Research Center provides a generous benefits package promoting work-life balance. The role supports onsite, hybrid, or fully remote work options based in or outside Falmouth, Massachusetts.

Additional Information

• This is a fixed-term appointment for one year with potential for extension.
• Application review is continuous starting August 15, 2026, with preferred start in September or October 2026.
• The center is committed to equal opportunity employment and values diversity and inclusion in its workforce.