Flatiron Research Fellow, Center for Computational Astrophysics

About the role

The Center for Computational Astrophysics (CCA) at the Flatiron Institute invites applications for Flatiron Research Fellow (FRF) positions. Fellows pursue independent research that aligns with CCA’s mission to develop computational methods, tools, and frameworks for analyzing large astronomical datasets and understanding multi‑scale astrophysical physics. They benefit from collaboration across the Flatiron Institute’s centers (CCB, CCM, CCN, CCQ, SCC, ICC) and from access to joint appointments, software projects, and partnerships with major observatories and experiments.

Responsibilities

• Carry out an active, independently directed research program, encouraged to involve substantial collaboration with CCA or Flatiron Institute members.
• Participate in seminars, colloquia, and group meetings.
• Develop software, mathematical, and computational expertise through internal educational opportunities.
• Share knowledge via scientific publications, presentations, and/or software releases.
• Organize workshops and mentor graduate and undergraduate students through programs such as the CCA Pre‑Doctoral Program, CUNY Astrophysics Masters Program, Simons‑NSBP Scholars Summer Program, and AstroCom NYC Program.
• Take advantage of CCA partnerships (Simons Observatory, Terra Hunting Experiment, SDSS‑V, Gaia, HIRAX, LIGO, NASA SPHEREx) and participate in CCA‑related software projects (MESA, AstroPy, Entity, Dedalus, PASTA).
• Collaborate with CCA research scientists on projects such as Learning the Universe, JWST, PRIMA, Rubin, Euclid, Roman, CAMELS, DREAMS, MESA, AstroPy, Dedalus, LIGO, LISA, Gaia, and others.

Requirements

• Ability to do original research in astrophysics
• Ability to work both independently and collaboratively
• Ability to present research and other types of work, internally and externally
• Effective oral and written communication and data documentation
• Intellectual connections to projects in which the CCA is involved (if relevant)

Skills

• Expertise in technical elements of computational astrophysics research, which may include but are not limited to: algorithm and software development; application or development of computational or statistical methods; data analysis; modeling; statistics and machine learning; scientific simulation; or theoretical astrophysics.

Qualifications

Education: Applicants are required to have or receive before their appointment a PhD in a related field.

Benefits

• Research budget to support travel and visitors.
• Access to the Flatiron Institute's scientific computing resources: 2 HPC clusters with a combined 180,000 cores, 600 GPUs, and 60PB of raw storage.
• Eligibility for subsidized housing within walking distance of the CCA.

Pay

The full‑time annual compensation for this position is $95,000.

Schedule