Position Announcements
Oceanographer
Offer of Employment – Arctic Ice Drift
Forecasting R&D
October 16, 2009
Canatec Associates International Ltd. is seeking
to hire a recent PhD graduate or a PhD student
soon to graduate, to help us develop an arctic
sea ice drift forecasting model. We have funding
for a 2 year applied research project and need a
person to start on this work as soon as
possible.
Canatec (www.canatec.ca) is a consulting firm
specializing in sea ice. We do projects relating
to remote sensing, physics of movement and
engineering properties. Our consulting
activities have extended into supporting
operational projects in offshore petroleum
developments. We develop specialized
instrumentation for ice movement measurements
and software for ice drift and historical
statistics. Canatec also sells training courses
to companies needing their oceanographers,
meteorologists, engineers, native northerners
and marine officers to be better skilled in ice
observation. Our markets are global and we are
one of the leading international firms in this
field. We are growing rapidly and combine the
best characteristics of an informal, highly
creative, entrepreneurial startup with an
established firm with senior partners who have
industrial experience of up to 3 decades. Our
offices are located in the technology park at
the University of Calgary, in Calgary.
Our preference is for a candidate with prior
knowledge and experience relating to modeling
arctic sea ice drift. However, we know this is
an unusual request and will be pleased to
consider people with a variety of related
backgrounds who have the mathematical,
computational and research skills to be able to
pick up the additional ice knowledge under the
guidance of senior Canatec staff and from
external colleagues. Suitable candidates could
therefore have backgrounds in oceanography,
ocean engineering, fluid dynamics, meteorology,
physics or mathematics. Candidates must be
Canadian or eligible for permanent employment in
Canada.
The candidate will work in Canatec's office
under the guidance of senior Canatec staff to
produce an ice drift forecasting model that is a
tool for commercial use in both consulting and
operational support projects. It will be based
on existing public models and Canatec's own
model currently proven in the field for almost a
decade but needing updating. As the research
progresses, the candidate must be alert to and
assist with spinoffs of potential commercial
products. The candidate will need to balance an
interest in applied research with involvement in
all Canatec's commercial projects, learn from
other staff and share his/her knowledge with
them. We are seeking a person who is highly
skilled, highly creative, entrepreneurial,
innovative, interested in dealing with cutting
edge industrial applications of knowledge in a
variety of fields related to ice and polar seas,
comfortable with academic and industrial
colleagues, and enjoys working with ambitious
clients working in complex, expensive and
difficult frontier environments. Our intent is
that this person will choose to remain with
Canatec and eventually take up a position in the
senior management team.
For further information or sending a brief
letter and CV, please contact Dr. Scott Tiffin
at scott_tiffin@canatec.ca.