Postdoctoral Research Fellow - Midwest Regional Energy Symbiosis

About the Role

The University of Notre Dame invites applications for a Postdoctoral Research Fellow to join a collaborative, interdisciplinary team of researchers from Notre Dame, Indiana University, Purdue University, and the University of Wisconsin. This role focuses on developing and piloting an AI-enabled material flow and industrial symbiosis framework that connects energy, water, and resource loops. The project leverages the Midwest's manufacturing, agricultural, construction, and freshwater resources as a living regional laboratory to create transferable methods for mapping, modeling, and evaluating industrial symbiosis opportunities across interconnected systems.

The postdoctoral fellow will serve as the central analytical and coordination lead for the project, working under the technical guidance of the PI and co-investigators. This is a full-time position with an initial appointment of one year, renewable for an additional year based on satisfactory performance and availability of funding.

Responsibilities

• Develop an innovative industrial symbiosis framework outlining short-term feasible and long-term transformative cross-sector exchanges.
• Create a transparent AI-enabled and replicable methodology adaptable to other Midwestern and U.S. regions to support energy-water-resource engineering and circular economy research.
• Coordinate meetings and collaborate with faculty teams and other research assistants.
• Lead the co-authorship of interdisciplinary, peer-reviewed publications in high-impact journals and develop the foundation for future grant proposals.
• Compile, manage, and integrate geospatial and infrastructure datasets related to industrial facilities, manufacturing processes, water and wastewater systems, solid waste streams, agricultural production, energy systems, construction-related material demand, and secondary resource flows.
• Develop regional material flow inventories identifying major sources, sinks, transformation points, and potential exchange pathways.
• Conduct industrial symbiosis screening to identify feasible cross-sector resource exchanges.
• Support the development of transparent AI-enabled assessment methods.
• Perform simplified material flow analysis, life-cycle assessment, and techno-economic screening to evaluate selected symbiosis pathways.
• Prepare technical briefs, maps, diagrams, scenario portfolios, and visualizations to support team coordination and communication with public and private sector partners.
• Produce first drafts of scholarly manuscripts and contribute technical content, preliminary results, figures, and supporting analyses for follow-on grant proposals.

Qualifications

• Ph.D. (in hand by the starting date) in industrial ecology, environmental engineering, civil and environmental engineering, systems engineering, sustainable manufacturing, urban systems, architecture/engineering, environmental science, geography, data science, or a closely related field.
• Demonstrated research experience in one or more of the following areas: material flow analysis, life-cycle assessment, techno-economic analysis, industrial symbiosis, circular economy, resource recovery, waste management, water-energy-food systems, sustainable manufacturing, or low-carbon construction/material systems.
• Strong quantitative and data-integration skills, including experience working with geospatial data, infrastructure datasets, environmental inventories, or regional-scale resource-flow data.
• Expertise with LCA/MFA tools, databases, or methods; experience with software such as SimaPro, openLCA, Brightway, Python, R, GIS platforms, or related analytical tools is desirable.
• Experience with AI, machine learning, optimization, spatial analysis, scenario modeling, or decision-support methods is strongly preferred, especially when applied in transparent, interpretable, or policy-relevant contexts.
• Ability to synthesize complex multi-sector information into clear analytical outputs, including maps, figures, diagrams, tables, technical memos, and scholarly manuscripts.
• Strong writing, communication, and coordination skills, with the ability to work across a multi-institutional and interdisciplinary research team.
• Interest in regional sustainability, circular resource engineering, industrial ecology, and applied research that supports energy-water-resource loop closure.

About the University

The University of Notre Dame is a vibrant, mission-driven community where every employee is valued and supported. Rooted in a tradition of excellence and inspired by its Catholic character, Notre Dame fosters an environment of care that nurtures the whole person—mind, body, and spirit. Employees contribute to world-class research, shape the student experience, and support the University’s mission to make a meaningful impact on campus and beyond. This role is part of Notre Dame’s Just Transformations to Sustainability Initiative, a University-wide effort to build a sustainable future where people and nature flourish together.

Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis starting on September 1, 2026, and will continue until the position is filled.