Postdoctoral Research Associate

About the role

A postdoctoral research associate will join the 'Arid Hydrology and Water Systems' research group at the Texas A&M AgriLife Research Center at El Paso. The current focus of the group is on transboundary and shared water resources modeling for sustainable management and binational cooperation, with a strong emphasis on hydrologic modeling, participatory numerical modeling, remote sensing applications, and the development of data-driven decision-support tools. The successful candidate will work on a NASA-funded Transboundary Model and Data Homogenization (TMDH) project that aims to integrate NASA Earth observation (EO) products, in situ and field-sensor records, and advanced hydro-geologic models into an operational platform to support U.S.–Mexico treaty-based water allocation and infrastructure planning.

Responsibilities

• Develop, implement, and validate remote-sensing-enabled models for transboundary surface-water and groundwater assessment, including the integration of NASA EO products (e.g., GRACE/GRACE-FO, SWOT, MODIS, GPM, Landsat, ECOSTRESS, OpenET, and others) with in situ and field-sensor data.
• Configure, calibrate, and apply hydrologic and groundwater modeling systems (e.g., SWAT+ with gwflow/MODFLOW, ParFlow) for the Rio Grande and other arid and semi-arid basin settings.
• Design and implement AI(ML/DL)-based predictive frameworks to assess water availability, drought impacts, groundwater depletion, and salinity risk under climatic and anthropogenic changes.
• Lead data collection, QA/QC, harmonization, storage, and processing workflows across heterogeneous binational datasets for the TMDH framework.
• Support to develop APIs, dashboards, and decision-support tools (e.g., web-based interfaces and visualization workflows) for IBWC, NADBank, and other regional stakeholders.
• Coordinate usability testing, stakeholder workshops, and feedback loops, and contribute to advancing the platform from prototype to operational readiness.
• Compose research articles for peer-reviewed journals and present results at scientific and stakeholder meetings.
• Assist the supervisor in writing the project reports and potential grant proposals.
• Train and supervise under/graduate student(s), interns, and other project team personnel.
• Perform other assigned research and outreach duties related to ongoing research projects.

Requirements

• Ph.D. in Hydrology, Water Resources Engineering, Environmental Engineering, Civil Engineering, Agricultural Engineering, Geosciences, or a closely related field with remote sensing data application at the time of appointment.
• Peer-reviewed publications in hydrology, water resources, environmental modeling, remote sensing, or related domains.
• Strong knowledge of hydrologic processes, transboundary/shared water resources management, and coupled human–natural systems.
• Proficiency in geospatial and scientific computing tools (e.g., Python, R, GIS, Google Earth Engine, or equivalent) to handle and process complex datasets.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to interact with both technical and non-technical audiences.
• Ability to work multi-tasking with project team, end-users, and binational stakeholders, complete project tasks before the deadline, and work cooperatively with the interdisciplinary project team.
• Experience with surface water and groundwater modeling using tools such as SWAT/SWAT+ with gwflow/MODFLOW, ParFlow, and other similar models.
• Experience with remote sensing and Earth observation data integration into hydrologic or environmental models.
• Demonstrated experience with AI (ML/DL), data assimilation, or advanced statistical modeling for environmental or water resources applications.
• Experience working with large, multi-source geospatial datasets, preferably in transboundary or data-scarce contexts.