TWO FIELD ASSISTANT POSITIONS, STUDYING CAPUCHIN MONKEYS IN COSTA RICA
Jacinta Beehner
We are recruiting TWO assistants for the Capuchins at Taboga Project, a long-term project in Costa Rica on the behavior, cognition, communication, endocrinology, and conservation of wild white-faced capuchins (Cebus imitator). All research is conducted at a field station located in the Taboga Forest Reserve in the Guanacaste Province, Costa Rica. Directors of the project are Drs. Thore Bergman and Jacinta Beehner (University of Michigan), and Dr. Marcela Benítez (Emory University).
We are currently looking for TWO research assistants who are willing to conduct daily behavioral observations in the field in addition to specializing in cognition experiments. One of you will be a flex person and help out with all experiments. One of you will be a research assistant for a funded project with Evan Cunningham (an Emory grad student) on social learning.
The Cognition experts will be 1-2 people who have a strong interest and some training in comparative cognition, neuroscience, and/or cognitive studies on animals. In this position, you will get field experience in primate behavior and ecology while conducting experiments on platforms set up throughout the forest. You will be responsible for setting up and taking down interactive experiments on platforms (e.g., social learning boxes, reward validation tasks, touchscreens), maintaining apparatuses, updating study design and protocols, coding and analyzing videos, maintaining data logs, and overseeing all aspects of data collection. Computer savvy and experience in programming and/or machine learning would be ideal.
Qualified applicants will have a B.S. or B.A in Biology, Zoology, Neuroscience, Biological Anthropology, Psychology, Computer Science or another relevant field. Applicants must be fluent/highly proficient in English and conversational in Spanish (or at least willing to learn Spanish!), both of which are necessary to communicate with others at the field station. An ability to wake up extremely early (4:30 am), work full days (~ 8 hours) outdoors in hot, humid conditions, with mosquitos, on sometimes steep terrain, and through sometimes brushy forest is also required. We think the beauty of the forest and the wildlife is well worth it! Assistants must also be comfortable living and working closely with others, and must be self-motivated as training is mostly self-driven.
The project field station is part of a field campus of the Universidad Técnica Nacional of Costa Rica at Taboga. You can read more about the location here. We have multiple 4-bedroom houses that each sleep 7 people comfortably. Each house has potable running water, reliable electricity and internet, full kitchens, two bathrooms with showers, and laundry facilities. The house is shared by our Costa Rican research assistants, volunteer assistants, and graduate students conducting research. You should come prepared to share a room. Directors will be present at the site for 1-4 weeks at a time throughout the year.
COVID Precautions: You must have a Covid-19 vaccination (and be boosted) to be part of this project. When in the forest, assistants must wear a mask and stay at least 6 m away from the monkeys to avoid transmission of human-borne diseases.
Funding and Compensation: This qualifies as a volunteer position, with no formal salary, but we take care of all expenses related to the job (flight, food, lodging), and we offer an extra monthly stipend of $200 (over and above food and toiletries). Round-trip airfare from your home city and living support while conducting fieldwork will be provided (e.g., travel, meals, lodging, and $400 towards visa trips every 6 months). The project will provide emergency travel health insurance (including evacuation insurance), but the assistant needs to have their own basic healthcare plan. The assistant will be responsible for covering expenses during vacations (3 weeks of vacation time per year) and visa trips (beyond the $400). Costa Rica does not require specific vaccinations to enter the country, but the assistant will be responsible for securing any recommended vaccinations they wish to have. The volunteer will need to provide their own backpack, field clothing, and footwear. We will provide snake gaiters (lower leg coverings), binoculars, and other field gear needed to collect data. We can also offer advice about what items are necessary for living a comfortable daily life in a tropical dry forest.
The project is committed to including assistants as authors on scientific publications and presentations made possible by their contributions in the field. We are committed to creating a safe, inclusive environment at this research site. We encourage applications from members of groups underrepresented in field sciences, including members of visible minorities, racialized groups, and LGBTQ+ communities. We also encourage applications from nationals of primate habitat countries, including Costa Ricans.
Appointment: A one-year commitment is preferred, and longer-term appointments are also possible after the year is up. We are looking for assistants who can start their appointment as soon as possible (but we need one person to start by Jul 1 and one person to start by Sep 1). Applicants who decide to remain for longer than one year, will receive one round-trip flight to their home country for a break in between appointments.
Deadline: Positions will remain open until filled. We hope to fill both positions by June 2025 (with later start dates). Please get your application in by June 6, 2025.
Application: Please email the following materials to Dr. Jacinta Beehner at (jbee...@umich.edu). The subject heading of the email message should read: “Application for Costa Rican field position”.
- A letter stating your qualifications for this position, whether you speak Spanish (and your level), how the position fits with your interests and future career goals, and when you would be available to come (Jul 1 or Sep 1).
- A CV or resumé detailing relevant experience
- An unofficial transcript of college courses taken and the grades received.
- Contact information for at least two references, preferably at least one academic reference as well as one person who has worked closely with you or who has closely supervised your work. No need to send letters at this time. We will request letters if you make it to the second stage in this process.