Research Associate or Research Scientist - Ag. Economics and Remote Sensing

About the role

The Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics at Virginia Tech, and in particular an interdisciplinary research team led by Dr. Elinor Benami, is seeking a highly motivated Research Associate or Scientist to join us in the Summer or Fall 2026.

Responsibilities

• Supports the research efforts of our team using a variety of tools and methods, including preparing geospatial and administrative data for analysis, applying theory-guided statistical approaches to uncover relationships in the data, generating visualizations and maps, preparing manuscripts for submission to peer-reviewed journals, and presenting findings to academic as well as practitioner audiences.
• Engages directly with policy and industry partners and contributes to ongoing grant development.

Requirements

• Master's degree in agricultural economics, applied economics, or a related quantitative field, or a bachelor’s degree and significant relevant experience in the same fields
• Strong written and oral communication skills
• Demonstrated experience with data analysis in R, Python, or similar language using version control (e.g., Git)
• Experience in evaluating the economic and policy implications of agricultural monitoring techniques, ideally using remotely sensed, Earth observation data

Qualifications

• Preferred Qualifications for Research Associate Position: Experience with econometric methods applied to administrative or observational data, Familiarity with geospatial analysis and remote sensing data, including cloud platforms such as Google Earth Engine, Prior work in one or more of the team's areas: agricultural/index insurance or risk transfer, conservation agriculture, land markets, or rural finance
• Preferred Qualifications For Research Scientist Position: Experience submitting manuscripts to peer reviewed journals and established publications record, Experience with managing sponsored research projects and/or personnel, Familiarity with geospatial analysis and remote sensing data, including cloud platforms such as Google Earth Engine, Prior work in one or more of the team's areas: agricultural/index insurance or risk transfer, conservation agriculture, land markets, or rural finance