Summer - Student Lab Assistant

Northwestern Polytechnic (formerly GPRC)
Northwestern Polytechnic is a comprehensive community institution, established in 1966 in Grande Prairie, and our stewardship region includes campuses in Fairview and Grande Prairie. NWP offers a wide variety of credit and non-credit career certificates and diplomas, pre-employment and apprenticeship trades, university transfer studies, and several opportunities for on-campus degree completion through collaborations with four-year universities. As an educational facility in northwestern Alberta, NWP helps meet the cultural, recreational, athletic and conferencing needs of the region in partnership with community and regional stakeholders. NWP is dedicated to providing learners with access to high quality and diverse lifelong learning opportunities, and to the responsible educational, fiscal and environmental stewardship of resources.

The Department 
National Bee Diagnostic Centre - Technology Access Centre (NBDC-TAC) is a research initiative of the School of Applied Research at Northwestern Polytechnic​ which provides diagnostic services for researchers, beekeepers, and agencies across Canada with the aim to contribute towards a healthy, sustainable and profitable apiculture in Canada. NBDC-TAC is seeking to hire a summer student to work at our state-of-the-art laboratory in Beaverlodge, Alberta to assist with honeybee research.

The Role

You will be part of a research team for a project focused on bee health in the Alberta Peace Region and will learn standard laboratory practices and work with a team to prepare insect specimens for analysis, process bee specimens and perform diagnostic tests for pathogens and diseases.  Sample analysis will require common techniques used in microscopy, microbiology, and molecular biology.  Data entry and data analysis techniques using digital software ( Excel, R).  Once trained, you will also have opportunities to teach laboratory methods to student interns.  Participation in workshops for beekeepers and the broader community as part of our outreach initiatives. You will perform a series of basic duties in the lab and must be able to follow standard operational procedures, be meticulous and well organized.  Labeling, storing and preparing samples for analysis, including entering information into the database.  Other research duties including assembling sampling kits, preparing outreach material (posters and presentations) and online literature searches summarizing information on honeybee biology, pathogens and diagnostics.

This position will be full time for 18 weeks at 35 hours of work per week, with a rate pay of $ plus 4% vacation pay, starting April 29, 2024. 

What We Offer
Northwestern Polytechnic offers lifelong learning opportunities through professional development/wellness programs, a competitive salary and a student-centered culture that is vital to our community. Join our team, grow with us and connect your skills and abilities to our vision, mission and values.

---