General

The Simon Fraser University PolyLAB (see http://polylab.sfu.ca/) in Vancouver, a unit of the Telematics Research Laboratory, is expecting to need to urgently hire two to three persons, for a short period, to support exciting Canadian and international activities in solar system exploration science, in which researchers from the international space exploration community, including NASA and the Canadian Space Agency, develop scientific, engineering, and methodological techniques for furthering solar system exploration. The focus will be on understanding solar system exploration, especially the human exploration of the surfaces of rocky objects in the solar system, including asteroids, the Moon, and the Mars system, through supported field activities at planetary / solar system destination analogue field locations and laboratories. The selected persons will support systems in this area in a field deployment in an Arctic field camp.

Selection of the assistant is expected to occur before Wednesday 23rd of June 2010, and the opening may close the moment a suitable applicant is found. The applicants must be available to start work sometime in the first week of July. The ability to help with field deployment activities in Vancouver in late June or early July will also be considered.

The requirement is to hire personnel who can support SFU’s engineering support and management of advanced destination systems research for solar system space exploration studies at the Haughton-Mars Project (HMP) Research Station, on Devon Island, in the Canadian High Arctic (see http://www.marsonearth.org/). The hiring will be for roughly one and a half months, starting in early July, journeying to the Arctic, and returning in mid-August.

Position Details

Junior Solar System Destination Exploration Field Support Assistants

Junior Solar System Destination Exploration Field Support Assistants will be required on a 42 work-day contract for field deployment in SFU’s supported activities on Devon Island, for the HMP 2010 field season. The primary tasks of these Assistants will be to support the implementation and NASA-supported utilization of the SFU computing and communications environment in the HMP base camp and the Devon Island research area, providing support for radio, networking, computing and mission operations systems, at the physical and systems level. In addition, the Assistants will support other users and agencies, such as CSA, at the HMP field site. The Assistant will also support the build-out of the SFU game-changing PlanetNet and FlexNet solar system destination exploration support network, communications, and computing Cloud infrastructure, aid in maintenance of the satellite and advanced wireless networking systems in place, and support users in field traverse requirements in areas related to upcoming NASA human missions to the surface of destinations in the solar system. Work will range from tasks involving heavy lifting, fueling of generators, and other camp tasks to technical support, including establishing remote facilities away from the HMP Base Camp. Preferred skills, to be divided between Assistants, include:

· Basic Networking Management on Windows platforms (some experience in Mac OS and Linux will be desirable);

· Basic user-support skills, under Windows and MacOS X;

· Basic Computer Hardware and Software Maintenance, including hardware and software installation, and debugging;

· Basic understanding of electronics, including operation of test hardware, such as multi-meters and signal analysis hardware, and ability to construct RF and network cables;

· Basic understanding of IEEE 802.11-class wireless networking at the configuration level;

· Basic understanding of network configuration and the ability to understand or self-educate in basic programming techniques for enterprise-grade network routing and switching systems, such as Cisco IOS at the CCNA or above level;

· Basic understanding of RF communications systems and underlying basic physics;

· Understanding of the use of UHF and VHF radios in life-critical field safety environments;

· Understanding of power systems;

· Camping Experience (Expedition-class preferred), and good physical health and fitness.

Although many technical skills may be picked up in the field environment, plus may be split between all Assistants, and are therefore not all manditory, it is however required that applicants be highly energetic and motivated, with attention to detail, and feel able to cope with the stresses of working as the junior members of a multi-person support team, in an Arctic field camp, while delivering high-quality support and engineering services to time critical projects. Stress management skills will be essential, and applicants should provide information demonstrating an ability to work well and maintain psychological stability under stress, while helping maintain low stress levels in their coworkers.

Preference will be given to present full-time SFU students (undergraduate or graduate) who may be quickly available for further part-time (or potentially full-time) employment in related activities at SFU.

An assistant must not have any past history (such as a criminal record in any country) that will cause difficulties with them passing a Canadian Government ENHANCED RELIABILITY check, which may be required for these activities. Priority will be given to Canadian citizens and Permanent Residents.

Application Process

Potential applicants should immediately e-mail a detailed resume to Dr. Stephen Braham, at sbraham@sfu.ca, with the following details:

· Background history and match to requested skill set, include past jobs, formal and informal training, projects, and activities, plus evidence of ability to handle psychological and physiological stressful environments

· Discussion of ability to confirm to security requirements, and willingness to permit a security background check to be performed

· Availability for rapid hiring, and deployment to the Arctic before the the end of the last week of June / start of the first week of July (costs of essential camping gear, flights, etc, will be refunded by SFU).

· List of (3) contacts for References

Questions may also be sent to Dr. Braham at the same e-mail address.