Postdoctoral Research Scientists – Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory

Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory and the Columbia Department of Earth and Environmental Engineering of the Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science each seek an outstanding candidate for a new initiative between Columbia University and the University of California, Irvine. This initiative is aimed at launching a major effort to apply deep learning techniques to improve sub-grid physical parameterizations in climate models. The selected Postdoctoral Research Scientists are crucial to the success of this initiative that allows newly minted PhD researchers to benefit from multiple perspectives and specialties. Each successful candidate will preferably combine expertise in fundamental geophysical fluid dynamics and numerical modeling with new statistical inference methods. Each of the two positions will have a distinct focus, but the Postdoctoral Research Scientists will be expected to work collaboratively. The Postdoctoral Research Scientist with atmospheric science and the Postdoctoral Research Scientist with physical oceanography will use their differing, yet connected research fields to further the findings of deep learning techniques to improve sub-grid physical parameterizations in climate models. Both teams will interact remotely frequently to exploit commonalities in methodology.

Physical Oceanography
The Postdoctoral Research Scientist in physical oceanography will be primarily responsible for investigating parameterization of ocean mesoscale and submesoscale turbulent transport and air-sea interaction. This position is based at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory and supervised by Prof. Ryan Abernathey.

Atmospheric Science
The Postdoctoral Research Scientist in atmospheric science will be primarily responsible for investigating parameterization of atmospheric convection and cloud-radiation interaction. The Postdoctoral Research Scientist will be co-supervised by Prof. Mike Pritchard in the Department of Earth System Science at the University of California, Irvine and Prof. Pierre Gentine in the Department of Earth and Environmental Engineering at Columbia University. This Postdoctoral Research Scientist will have a unique opportunity to collaborate with Prof. Pritchard who is a specialist in climate modeling and parameterization, as well as Prof. Gentine who is highly experienced in machine learning. This position will be split evenly between the two sites (UC Irvine and Columbia), with some travel between the two sites anticipated.

Minimum Qualifications

• A Ph.D. in Physical Oceanography or a closely related discipline (Physical Oceanography position)
• A Ph.D. in Atmospheric Science or a closely related discipline (Atmospheric Science position)

Preferred Qualifications (both positions)

• Experience designing and running numerical simulations
• Experience in statistical analysis of large dataset
• Proficiency in programming python and familiarity with machine learning libraries such as tensorflow or Keras

Details

Columbia University benefits offered with this Officer of Research appointment. These are full time appointments, initially for one year with a second year extension conditional on satisfactory performance and funding. Search will remain open for at least 30 days after the ad appears and will continue until the position is filled. Only online applications will be accepted.

Applicants should submit a curriculum vitae, a statement of research interests, a code sample, and names and addresses of 3 references.

If you are interested in further information and in applying for the Physical Oceanography position please see:
https://academicjobs.columbia.edu/applicants/Central?quickFind=66044

If you are interested in further information and in applying for the Atmospheric Science position please see:
https://academicjobs.columbia.edu/applicants/Central?quickFind=66045

Columbia University is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer –