Natural Resources Job Board

The Becker Lab at the University of Oklahoma is recruiting 1-2 seasonal field assistants to help with monthly bat fieldwork in western Oklahoma (near Freedom, OK). Work will involve 2-3 nights of bat capture and sample collection on weekends per month at established field sites for a long-term study of Mexican free-tailed bat migration, immunity, and infection. Work will consist of setting up mist-nets, capturing bats with mist-nets and hand nets upon emergence, recording morphometric data, assisting with collection of small blood samples as well as oral and rectal swabs, wing biopsies, and fur, and helping with data entry and quality control. Previous experience handling bats or other small mammals is highly desired, and successful applicants will be trained in other techniques. All work will be conducted in adherence to IACUC protocols at the University of Oklahoma, in accordance with state wildlife collection permits, and following national white-nose syndrome protocols. Pre-exposure prophylaxis against rabies virus is required for fieldwork, as is vaccination against SARS-CoV-2. Proper PPE, including latex gloves and a N95/KN95 mask, must be followed when handling wild bats. Successful applicants will receive hourly pay through the University of Oklahoma and will be reimbursed for mileage to/from the field sites. Applicants must be local to central or western Oklahoma.

Please send a CV of your relevant experiences alongside a short cover letter to Dr. Daniel Becker (danbeck@ou.edu). Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis, with the earliest start date being mid-May 2024. Monthly fieldwork will continue into October 2024. 

For more background on the study system, please see our latest preprint on bioRxiv: https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.02.08.577874v1