Research Assistant Professor

Western Washington University with over 15000 students in seven colleges and the graduate school is nationally recognized for its educational programs students and faculty. The campus is located in Bellingham Washington a coastal community of 90000 overlooking Bellingham Bay the San Juan Islands and the North Cascades Mountain range. The city lies 90 miles north of Seattle and 60 miles south of Vancouver British Columbia. Western has additional sites in Anacortes Bremerton Everett Port Angeles and Poulsbo. Western is recognized nationally for its successes such as being named one of the top public masters-granting institutions in the Pacific Northwest for 25 years in a row by U.S. News & World Report.

Western Washington University is committed to achieving excellence through advancing inclusive success increasing our Washington impact and focusing on transformational education grounded in the liberal arts and sciences and based on innovative scholarship research and creative activity. Westerns greatest strength is the outstanding students faculty staff and alumni/ae who make up its community. Western supports an inclusive governance structure for all and provides a learning and working environment in which everyone can pursuit of this excellence individual employees are expected to establish and maintain productive and effective inclusive working relationships amongst diverse populations including staff faculty administration student and external constituents. Further individual employees are expected to have the ability to operationalize sustainability concepts (economic societal environmental) into all aspects of performing their job duties.

About the Shannon Point Marine Center:

SPMC is Western Washington Universitys coastal research facility located in Anacortes Washington approximately 45 miles from Westerns main campus in Bellingham. The 78-acre site includes Pacific lowland forest and 3000 feet of undisturbed shoreline along the Salish Sea. SPMC supports and advances WWUs undergraduate and graduate programs in marine science facilitates research across a broad range of marine-related disciplines and provides access to facilities for visiting scientists. The center also hosts federally funded programs that enable undergraduates nationwide to conduct mentored research and promotes ocean literacy through K12 and community education initiatives.

Facilities include a flow-through seawater system a fleet of research vessels SCUBA support oceanographic instrumentation a fully equipped analytical chemistry laboratory and a fully equipped molecular laboratory. Together these resources support the research and educational activities of WWU faculty resident scientists and visiting researchers. For more information visit .

About the MACS Program: Marine and Coastal Science (MACS) is an interdisciplinary Bachelor of Science (BS) degree program with permanent and affiliated faculty in units across the university drawing together the wealth of marine expertise in the Biology Geology Environmental Sciences and Chemistry departments and at the Shannon Point Marine Center. The mission of MACS is to promote the study of marine systems with an emphasis on place-based learning early exposure to research and cohort-based immersive educational experiences. The goal of the program is to help students develop into confident thoughtful ethical scientists ready to address the growing challenges affecting our marine and coastal environments ().

Shannon Point Marine Center and the Marine and Coastal Science Program support Westerns mission which states that together with our students staff and faculty we are committed to making a positive impact in the state and the world with a shared focus on academic excellence and inclusive achievement. We encourage applications from women people of color people with disabilities veterans and other candidates from underrepresented backgrounds and with diverse experiences interested in this opportunity.

We seek a dynamic and collaborative researcher who will be an active member of the SPMC community. The successful candidate will be expected to:

• Develop and sustain a rigorous externally funded research program in biological oceanography that leverages SPMC laboratory resources.
• Engage and mentor students through research involvement and training opportunities.
• Contribute to SPMC programs and the broader mission of the center through participation in research outreach and collaborative initiatives.

The position requires that the successful candidate be based at SPMC and conduct the majority of their work on site with SPMC serving as their primary professional base. The initial appointment will be for three years with the potential for renewal based on performance and annual evaluations.

Position Responsibilities:

• Develop at SPMC a productive externally funded research program that includes students.
• Develop and submit external proposals through the WWU office of Research and Sponsored Programs.
• Provide hands-on opportunities for students mentoring at least two MACS or Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) students per year.
• Develop and teach one course at SPMC per year.
• Advise masters students contingent upon developing a working relationship with an affiliated department sufficient to be appointed to their Associate Graduate Faculty roster.
• Serve as a contributing member of the SPMC community maintaining an active presence participating in program activities and contributing to proposals for instrumentation and programmatic activities at SPMC.
• Follow university guidelines for professional behavior and accomplishment as expected of employees holding faculty rank.

• PhD in marine science.
• Post-doctoral experience in biological oceanography or a closely related field.
• Record of research productivity in biological oceanography including refereed publications and conference presentations.
• Evidence of grantsmanship such as authorship of grant proposals or successful acquisition of research funding.
• Demonstrated commitment to student mentoring.

• Research that can be applied regionally.
• Experience working successfully in collaborative interdisciplinary environments.

Salary

For half-time 12-month appointment $50000 - $54000/year commensurate with experience and qualifications.

Bargaining Unit

United Faculty of Western Washington

Application Instructions

Application must include:

1. A cover letter addressing the required and preferred qualifications
2. A curriculum vitae
3. A research statement containing:
   1. Your vision for your research program how it relates to existing research and programs at the Shannon Point Marine Center and what plans you have to develop the resources (equipment personnel) necessary to support your work.
   2. A brief description of two research proposals you will pursue at SPMC.
4. Names and contact information for three professional references.

Application review begins January 20 2026 ; position is open until filled.

Western Washington University (WWU) is an equal opportunity compliance with applicable laws WWU does not discriminate on the basis of race ethnicity color national origin age citizenship or immigration status pregnancy use of protective leave genetic status sex sexual orientation gender identity gender expression marital status creed religion veteran or military status disability or the use of a trained guide dog or service animal (including a service animal in training) by a person with a disability or any other characteristic protected by federal state or local law in its programs or activities including employment admissions and educational programs. See WWUs Policies onProhibiting Discrimination Based on A Protected Class and Prohibiting Discrimination Based on Sex. Inquiries may be directed to the Office of Civil Rights and Title IX Compliance Title IX and ADA Coordinator Western Washington University Old Main 126 (MS 9021) 516 High Street Bellingham WA 98225; 360.650.3307 (voice) or 711 (Washington Relay);

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