University of New Brunswick

Closing Date: May 31, 2024 at 4:00 PM

Department of Earth Sciences

The Department of Earth Sciences at UNB teaches about challenges and solutions to society's water, energy, and mineral needs; past and present environmental and climate change; causes and effects of natural hazards; the origins and evolution of life.

WHAT WE OFFER

Full-time | Continuing | Fredericton | On-Campus

Standard Work Hours: Mon - Fri | 8:15 am - 4:30 pm | 36.25 hours per week

Salary Range: $41,905 - $52,382 per annum

YOUR FOCUS

Reporting to the Chief Technician, the Geological Technician provides petrographic services, operating and maintaining a range of specialized petrographic thin section instruments that are crucial in determining the composition of rocks, sediments and other materials. The Geological Technician supports (through the production of thin sections and polished slabs) about 50 undergraduate students, 30 graduate students, and 10 faculty members as well as other UNB units and off campus clients.

• Responsible for processing a wide range of geological material that involves specialized skills including oriented thin sections, mineral grain mounts in section, and polished thin sections, mineral section and slabs.
• Responsible for the operation of specialized petrographic equipment including manual and automatic diamond saws, manual 18" cast iron lapping machines, GTS1 thin section cut-off diamond saw, LP-30 and LP-50 lapping machines, vacuum impregnation equipment, vacuum work holdings jigs and fixtures, epoxy application station, sample press, rock crushing and pulverizing mills and other related equipment.
• Provide technical advice and assistance as required.
• Consult with the user to find best practices for processing the sample.
• Process the thin sections to the point of being a standard unpolished thin section.
• Preventative maintenance of all petrographic equipment.
• Provide student training in keeping with departmental guidelines on equipment.
• Produce geological samples for macro and microscopic study by faculty, staff and students for teaching and research.

WHAT YOU BRING

• Post-secondary diploma in a geotechnical trade, discipline or field preferred.
• Geological thin section training preferred, but an equivalent of training, education and experience may be considered.
• Attention to detail is essential, given the level of precision needed to effectively produce high quality thin sections, required by researchers.
• 3 to 5 years experience in a geological sample preparation lab setting, occupation or related experience.

Additional Strengths

• Journeyman status in a technical trade recognized by NB Department of Post-Secondary Education, Training and Labour would be considered an asset.
• Experience preforming high precision work in a busy environment.
• WHMIS, First Aid/CPR, fire extinguisher training certification.
• Ability to become certified in any safety training deemed necessary by the UNB safety office. Willingness to conduct internal safety audits as required.
• Ability to physically meet the job requirements and demands and navigate the layout of the building.
• Experience and the ability of preforming physically strenuous job requirements such as hand lapping samples and moving mineral collections.
• Willingness to learn and accept on the job training with the ability to understand and implement techniques employed to produce first class thin sections.