Postdoctoral Research Associate in Peatland Earth System Modelling, ORNL
Job Description
Oak Ridge National Laboratory is hiring a Postdoctoral Research Associate in peatland earth system modelling. The call is open until filled.
At a glance
- Post: Postdoctoral Research Associate in Peatland Earth System Modelling
- Where: Earth Systems Modeling Group, Environmental Sciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, USA
- Requisition ID: 17091
- Closing date: none given. ORNL reviews applications as they arrive, so the post is open until filled
- Pay: the advertisement states no figure
Read the official ORNL advertisement before you apply.
The work
The work develops and evaluates the land component of the Energy Exascale Earth System Model, ELM, and its peatland configuration ELM-Peatlands, improving how nutrient cycling is represented and how it couples to hydrological and ecosystem processes.
Peatlands hold a disproportionate share of the world’s soil carbon, and what they do under warming is one of the larger uncertainties in the carbon cycle. Getting nitrogen and phosphorus cycling right in the model is what decides whether that projection means anything.
The named duties are developing, implementing and testing improved process representations of nitrogen and phosphorus cycling and their coupling to hydrology and ecosystems within ELM and ELM-Peatlands, and evaluating model performance against observational and experimental data including SPRUCE and AmeriFlux. The position sits at the interface of model development, observational data synthesis and emerging AI and machine learning methods, working closely with the SPRUCE experiment.
What you need
- A PhD in earth system science, ecology, biogeochemistry, environmental engineering or a related field
- Land surface or ecosystem model development, and comfort with large observational datasets
- Read the official advertisement for the full qualifications
Pay and conditions
ORNL publishes no salary figure on this advertisement. It is a US Department of Energy Office of Science national laboratory with more than 7,000 staff, and postdoctoral appointments there are normally fixed-term with the possibility of renewal. Ask about the term and the pay band at interview.
How to apply
Apply through the ORNL job page using the Apply button, quoting requisition 17091. The advertisement gives no closing date, so apply early. Most ORNL positions require the right to work in the United States, and some roles touching nuclear or export-controlled work carry citizenship conditions. Read the posting’s own wording before you spend time on an application from outside the US.
Browse more research jobs on ResearchJobs.in, or search our Find a supervisor page.
Hiring institution: Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Official advertisement: jobs.ornl.gov
How to prepare for this application
- Model development means Fortran. ELM is a large legacy codebase; say if you have worked in one.
- SPRUCE is a famous whole-ecosystem warming experiment. Read about it before you write.
- Quote the requisition ID, 17091. ORNL tracks applications by it.
- Check the work-authorisation line on the posting. It is the usual reason an overseas application stalls at a national laboratory.
About Oak Ridge National Laboratory
ORNL is the largest US Department of Energy Office of Science laboratory, in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, with a legacy going back to the 1940s and more than 7,000 staff. It runs national user facilities including the Spallation Neutron Source and the Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility, and works across computing, materials, chemistry, nuclear science, biology and energy.
