Postdoctoral Fellow

Job Summary

The postdoctoral fellow in Natural Resource Innovation within the Louise Dilworth Davis College of Science and Engineering (DCSE) at Texas Christian University will work with the Harvey Research Group to advance field-based research at the intersection of critical minerals, water reuse, produced-water-impacted soils, serpentine/ultramafic soil systems, biochar-enabled technologies, native plant systems, and marginal-land restoration. This position complements a recently hired Postdoctoral Research Associate focused on laboratory and computational studies of reactive interfaces. Together, the two positions will help to advance a field-to-lab-to-computation research platform that connects molecular-scale geochemical processes with field-scale natural-resource challenges of economic, ecological, and national strategic relevance. The fellow will help strengthen a field platform spanning produced-water impacted soils and naturally metal-rich serpentine soils, allowing TCU to study restoration, resource recovery, and plant-soil adaptation across marginal landscapes.

Duties & Essential Job Functions

• Designs and leads field-based studies involving produced-water-impacted soils, serpentine/ultramafic soils, water reuse, biochar amendments, native plants, and marginal-land restoration.
• Supports field research connected to serpentine soils and associated plant communities.
• Coincides soil, water, plant, and amendment sampling; sample processing; field logistics; and data management.
• Works with laboratory and computational collaborators to integrate field observations with geochemical, analytical, and AI-enabled workflows.
• Leads and/or contributes to collaborative manuscripts, technical reports, presentations, and external proposals.
• Mentors graduate and undergraduate students in field sampling, data interpretation, and professional development.
• Helps build partnerships with landowners, industry, and other external stakeholders.

Required Education & Experience

• Ph.D. in geology, geochemistry, soil science, ecology, plant science, environmental engineering/science, or a closely related discipline.
• Ph.D. must be awarded prior to the start date and within the last 3 years.
• Experience in field-based research involving soils, water, plants, restoration, reclamation, geochemistry, or related natural-resource systems.
• Evidence of first-authored, peer-reviewed publications in high-impact journals.
• Experience working independently and collaboratively in interdisciplinary research settings.

Preferred Education & Experience

• Experience with produced water, saline or degraded soils, mine or industrially impacted lands, serpentine/ultramafic soils, marginal lands, or land reclamation.
• Experience with plant-soil interactions, biochar, soil amendments, phytoremediation, phytoextraction, native plants, or stress-adapted vegetation.
• Experience with field instrumentation, GIS, environmental monitoring, soil and water sampling, or restoration studies.
• Experience coordinating field-based research teams.
• Experience with critical minerals, resource recovery, water reuse, land restoration, or ecosystem-service assessment.