Earth Lab/CIRES Post-Doctoral Research Scholars at the University of Colorado-Boulder
Earth Lab, funded by the University of Colorado Boulder’s “Grand Challenge: Our Space, Our Future” and part of CIRES, seeks post-doctoral researchers to join a dynamic team pushing the frontiers of coupled Earth and social system science (http://www.colorado.edu/earthlab/). Earth Lab’s mission is to harness the data revolution through research, analytics, and education to accelerate understanding of global environmental change to help society better manage and adapt. Earth Lab seeks two Post-Doctoral Research Scholars to lead a research agenda in the following areas: 1. Understanding Disturbance Dynamics: from Trees to Ecoregions, and 2. The Social and Economic Impacts of Extremes. These target research areas represent Earth Lab’s efforts to explore natural and social system vulnerability and resilience to global environmental change, while also capitalizing of the diversity of data available to generate new insights. 1. Understanding Disturbance Dynamics: from Trees to Ecoregions, position #13902 Earth Lab seeks a Post-Doctoral Research Scholar who can advance a research agenda around scaling observations from trees to ecoregions to understand disturbance dynamics in western U.S. forests. The research goal of this project is to advance our understanding of some aspect of forest dynamics (e.g., carbon stocks, productivity, diversity, or resilience) after disturbance (e.g., wildfires, beetle-kill, drought, land use/cover change, or other) using cutting-edge technologies or sensors, machine learning approaches, and/or data harmonization techniques. Key research questions include: 1) how do compound disturbances alter forest dynamics and potentially lead to state transitions; 2) how does functional diversity change in response to disturbance; or 3) how do carbon stocks recover after different types and combinations of disturbance? Novel approaches to these questions could include: 1) use of machine learning approaches to derive species- or individual tree-level information from remote sensing data (e.g., LiDAR, hyperspectral, or other data source from Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), airborne, or satellite platforms); 2) scaling across observations from these platforms and other sources to understand forest dynamics (e.g., use of NEON data coupled with other sources); 3) experience working with data from or based on recently launched or forthcoming missions (e.g., GEDI, ECOSTRESS, Planet, or other) that capture information about disturbance and forest response; or 4) novel uses of longer-term satellite-based records (e.g., Landsat, MODIS, or other) that provide new insights about disturbance and forest response. The desired applicant would ideally have experience in one or more of these approaches; and note that Earth Lab is building out capabilities in science applications of UAVs with IRISS (www.colorado.edu/iriss). The Niwot Ridge Long-term Ecological Research program (http://niwot.colorado.edu) and NEON field site (https://www.neonscience.org/field-sites/field-sites-map/NIWO), at the university’s Mountain Research Station (an hour west of Boulder), will provide a potential base to test some of these approaches through existing partnerships. We are particularly interested in how our understanding of disturbance processes scales with individual tree-level information to entire ecoregions. The specific work will be determined in collaboration with the successful applicant, based on skills and interest area. The application cover letter should reflect the applicant’s thoughts on how to build a research focus that builds on these ideas and capitalizes on their past experience. Specific qualifications for Disturbance Dynamics Postdoc Position: • Background expertise in and theoretical understanding of disturbance dynamics in forest systems. • Applicant must have demonstrated interest and skills in one or more of the approaches described above (e.g., machine learning approaches, use of UAV-derived data/remote sensing data, data integration across multiple sources, etc.). • A strong quantitative background is necessary. • The ability to work as part of an interdisciplinary team. • Ph.D. in a related field is required, such as geography, ecology, environmental studies, forestry, or other. Contact for this theme: Jennifer Balch, Director of Earth Lab & Department of Geography, jennifer.ba...@colorado.edu 2. Social and Economic Impacts of Extremes, position #13889 Earth Lab seeks a Post-Doctoral Research Scholar on Extremes in Coupled Social and Natural Systems, with a focus on economic processes and impacts. The successful candidate must have content knowledge and data analytics skills relevant to extremes, with emphasis on economic impacts assessment in the U.S. context. The extremes focus seeks to build on the suite of Earth Lab efforts to conceptualize and analyze extreme events in coupled human and environment systems. This Post-Doctoral Research Scholar will work in the Risk and Decision-Making project as well as bridge among other ongoing science themes at the Earth Lab (Wildfire, Drought, Erosion, Human Health, and Land Use and Land Cover). This position will focus on the impacts of extreme events on social and environmental systems, valuation of those impacts and of societal responses, including analyzing the value of information in reducing impacts and vulnerability in the U.S. context. Moreover, we are interested in how coupled extreme events may further disrupt both ecological and social processes and infrastructure with special attention to the existence of threshold behaviors when the resilience capacity of a social and/or environmental system is exceeded. Specific Qualifications for Social and Economic Impacts of Extremes Postdoc Position: • Doctoral degree in economics or related social sciences or interdisciplinary field (economics, public policy, geography or other quantitative social science) • Demonstrated interest and the skills necessary to explore the economic impacts of extreme environmental events. • Strong quantitative background. • Experience or willingness to learn how to integrate and analyze large and/or heterogeneous datasets, including socio-economic data and Earth observations from remote-sensing platforms. Preferred: • Skills that enable modelling of direct and indirect impacts of extreme events on the U.S. economy at local to national scales. Contact for this theme: William Travis, Deputy Director of Earth Lab, and Department of Geography, william.tra...@colorado.edu Overall Qualifications for Earth Lab Postdocs: • Doctoral degree in natural or social sciences related to the Earth Lab research themes. • Strong quantitative background. • Experience in, or willingness to learn, appropriate programming and data analytic tools. Ideally the candidates will have experience in programming languages (e.g., R, Python, or others), can work in different environments (e.g., Linux), and are well versed in geospatial analysis software (e.g., QGIS). • Demonstrated contributions to open science (i.e., publicly available and/or reproducible data, code, workflows, and/or tools) or willingness to contribute to open science. • Experience in integrating and analyzing large, and/or heterogeneous datasets. • Experience in working with a high performance computing or cloud computing environment is a plus. • Demonstrated publication and grant-writing skills. • Team spirit and interest in interdisciplinary settings, with a willingness to engage with Earth Lab’s Analytics Hub and Education Initiative teams. To learn more about Earth Lab, visit the Earth Lab website (http://www.colorado.edu/earthlab/). To Apply: To apply for these positions, please visit https://jobs.colorado.edu and search for position #s: 13902 (Understanding Disturbance Dynamics) or 13889 (Social and Economic Impacts of Extremes). Applications that are received by November 16, 2018 will be given full consideration, but the positions will remain open until filled. For general information on applying, please contact Dawn Umpleby (dawn.umpl...@colorado.edu).
