Research Associate

About the role

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.

Responsibilities

• Utilize a large perturbed parameter ensemble and a machine learning-based emulator developed from the Community Earth System Model to:
• Quantify and diagnose model biases in ecosystem responses to climatic drivers across different plant functional types and geographic regions;
• Identify key model parameters responsible for these biases;
• Constrain these parameters by minimizing mismatches between simulated and observed sensitivities of carbon cycle variables.

Requirements

• Hold a Ph.D. in Earth science, mathematics, or a related field;
• Experience in terrestrial carbon cycle science;
• Experience in data assimilation;
• Experience in large-scale Earth system modeling.

Qualifications

• Ph.D. in Earth science, mathematics, or a related field;
• Preferred qualifications include experience in terrestrial carbon cycle science, data assimilation, and large-scale Earth system modeling.

Skills

• Data analysis;
• Machine learning;
• Modeling;
• Scientific computing.

Benefits

• One- to three-year fellowship;
• Opportunity to work at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California;
• Competitive salary and benefits package.

Pay

• Salary range: $70,000 - $90,000 per year;
• Benefits: Health insurance, retirement plan, and other perks.

Schedule

• Full-time, one- to three-year commitment;
• Flexible schedule within standard working hours.