Pale Rainbow Dots: Modeling the Atmospheres, Habitability, and Biosignatures of Terrestrial-sized Planets in and Beyond the Solar System

About the program

The NASA Postdoctoral Program (NPP) offers unique research opportunities to highly-talented scientists to engage in ongoing NASA research projects at a NASA Center, NASA Headquarters, or at a NASA-affiliated research institute. These one- to three-year fellowships are competitive and are designed to advance NASA’s missions in space science, Earth science, aeronautics, space operations, exploration systems, and astrobiology.

Description

We are researching how to model the atmospheres, habitability, and biosignatures of terrestrial-sized planets around different kinds of stars. This helps us understand the potential for life on other planets and improve our ability to detect such life. We use a variety of atmospheric, oceanic, interior, ecological, spectral, and instrument models to study these planets. Our solar system planets serve as templates for these distant worlds. We simulate these planets using both 1-dimensional (1-D) and 3-dimensional (3-D) global climate models (GCM).

Requirements

• Doctoral degree completed within the last three years or expected to be completed before the start date of the appointment.
• Self-sufficient, self-motivated applicant with good organization and time management skills.
• Background in atmospheric modeling (climate and/or photochemistry).
• Experience in modeling the atmosphere of Earth or atmospheres of other planets is preferred.

Qualifications

• U.S. Citizenship, U.S. Lawful Permanent Resident (LPR), Foreign Nationals eligible for an Exchange Visitor J-1 visa status, or applicants for LPR, asylees, or refugees in the U.S. at the time of application with valid EAD card and I-485 or I-589 forms in pending status.

Skills

• Code development (in Fortran/Python) tailored to a specific science question.
• Desire to apply atmospheric modeling talents to questions at the intersection of planetary atmospheres and astrobiology.

Benefits

• One- to three-year fellowship.
• Opportunity to engage in ongoing NASA research projects.
• Competitive salary and benefits package.

Pay

Salary is commensurate with experience.

Schedule

Full-time.

Contact

To apply, please visit the NASA Postdoctoral Program website: How to Apply | NASA Postdoctoral Program (orau.org). For questions, email: npp@orau.org