Post-Doc/Visiting Scientist - Post-Doc for Center for Complex Hydrosystems Research - 517226

Pay Grade/Pay Range: Non Classified - Grade NA

Department/Organization: 214231 - Civil Const and Env Engineering

Normal Work Schedule: Monday - Friday 8:00am to 4:45pm

Job Summary: Under the direction of a senior faculty member who serves as a mentor for the postdoctoral appointee, The Postdoctoral Fellow provides for an internship and continuation of scholarly activity and research after achieving the Ph.D. or other doctoral degree.

Additional Department Summary: The Center for Complex Hydrosystems Research (CCHR) at the University of Alabama invites applications for multiple Postdoctoral research scholars. The positions are funded by external grants from NSF, NOAA and ERDC. Successful candidates will also be affiliated with the Department of Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering. CCHR uses computational modeling, operations research, a wide range of in-situ and remotely sensed data, analytical and statistical tools/methods to characterize and quantify the extent to which coastal features contribute to the resilience of coastal communities and infrastructure against compounding effects of hydroclimatic hazards. The scholars will conduct innovative and applied research in the following areas:

Multi-scale ensemble hydrologic and hydrodynamic data assimilation for real-time probabilistic flood inundation mapping: Develop parallelized ensemble DA applicable for both hydrologic and hydrodynamic model and simulation platform using high performance computing and quantifying different uncertainties in hydrologic and hydrodynamic modeling

Compound Flood Inundation Mapping and Nonstationary Coastal Flood Hazard Assessment: Develop and implement dynamic and statistical approaches for compund flood modeling. Utilize comprehensive understanding of the dynamic interactions between atmosphere, ocean and land to characterizing the boundary conditions for hydrodynamic modeling of compound floods.

Machine Learning to Predict River Discharge and Coastal Flood Assessment: Predict river discharge using meteorological forcing data and observational data (in-situ and satellite imagery, land surface features, deep learning methods, etc.). Develop physics-informed machine learning algorithms with the help of remotely sensed data. Parametrize compound flood hazard models that go beyond point water level metrics for calibration and are flexible enough to combine various spatially distributed metrics.

Nature-Based Solutions for Compound Flood Impact Mitigation: Develop coupled hydrologic-hydrodynamic modeling and probabilistic methods within the Next-Gen National Water Model. Assess the sensitivity of the hydrologic and hydrodynamic models for simulating extreme flooding using global sensitivity analysis methods.

Advanced Data Fusion Modeling to Update Regional Flood Maps Using Remotely Sensed Data: Apply remote sensing techniques to multispectral imagery (i.e. Landsat), radar data (i.e. SAR) and digital elevation models (DEMs). Integrate multi-source satellite-based data, hydrodynamic modeling, and data fusion techniques for large-scale land cover classification and compound flood mapping.

The successful candidates will be expected to lead and contribute in writing scientific papers, technical reports and present research results, and assist in developing proposals for external funding.

Please send any questions to coe-cchr@ua.edu.

Required Department Minimum Qualifications: Ph.D. in Civil, Environmental, or Coastal Engineering majoring in hydrology, hydraulics, or a closely related field.

Postdoctoral candidates will need to have completed their Ph.D. or have it completed by the start of employment. Applicants should upload a cover letter, curriculum vitae, two first-authored writing samples and include contact information of at least three references. Please upload additional documents to the “other documents” tab as needed.

Skills and Knowledge: Ability to write successful research proposals. Ability to work in a multidisciplinary environment.

Preferred Qualifications: Experience in hydrologic or hydrodynamic modeling (NWM, DFLOW-FM, ADH, ADCIRC, etc.), model coupling, model calibration and validation, statistical or probabilistic analysis, programming or scripting, high performance computing, and written and oral communication of research results.

Background Investigation Statement: Prior to hiring, the final candidate(s) must successfully pass a pre-employment background investigation and information obtained from social media and other internet sources. A prior conviction reported as a result of the background investigation DOES NOT automatically disqualify a candidate from consideration for this position. A candidate with a prior conviction or negative behavioral red flags will receive an individualized review of the prior conviction or negative behavioral red flags before a hiring decision is made.

Equal Employment Opportunity: The University of Alabama is an Equal Employment/Equal Educational Opportunity Institution. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment or volunteer status without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy, age, genetic or family medical history information, disability, protected veteran status, or any other legally protected basis, and will not be discriminated against because of their protected status. Applicants and employees of this institution are protected under Federal law from discrimination on several bases. Follow the link below to find out more. "EEO is the Law" Poster