Postdoctoral Research Associate: Environmental/Climate Justice & Numerical Modeling

The Environmental Institute (EI) at the University of Virginia (UVA) is seeking a postdoctoral Research Associate to join its Climate Fellows Postdoc Program. The selected candidate will work with an interdisciplinary team of faculty mentors, researchers, and environmental justice leaders to realize the goals of a project aimed at developing a novel modeling framework to support community preferences in air quality decision-making. 

We are assembling a collaborative team of researchers and nonprofit advocates for a project aimed at changing how community organizations interact with the air quality decision-making process. Our objective is to create a chemical transport/machine learning model framework that informs and incorporates community preferences in a timely manner and with evidence from a policy-relevant chemical transport model for participation in public comment periods and other form of decision-making. We aim to ensure the relevance of air quality and climate policies to environmental justice. 

The postdoctoral research associate will contribute significantly to realizing the project’s Core Objectives, which include: 

Demonstrate the capabilities of a state-of-the-science chemical transport model in replicating neighborhood-level health-relevant pollutant disparities resulting from changes in emissions. 

Develop a machine learning model that replicates key features predicted by the chemical transport model in response to new policy interventions. 

Plan the engineering infrastructure required for a fast and accessible community chemical transport/machine learning model accessible via a web application on a laptop. 

Eligibility and Selection Process: 

General Expectations  

• Applicants must have received or will receive their doctoral degree by the beginning of their appointment; we prefer candidates who have received their degree within five years prior to the start of the appointment.  

• There is no citizenship requirement. UVA will help sponsor candidate visas during the postdoc period.  

• The successful Postdoctoral Research Associate will be appointed for one year with the possibility of second year funding, contingent on the successful completion of a first-year performance review.  

• Applicants seeking to be considered for the Postdoctoral Research Associate role for this project will be evaluated on three main criteria:  

1. the strength of their research.  

2. their ability to collaborate across disciplines; and  

3. their commitment to diversifying perspectives and voices in finding equitable solutions for climate adaptation and mitigation. 

Project-Specific Competencies:  

The Postdoctoral Research Associate will contribute to the research team’s efforts to develop models to inform air quality regulation that are accessible to residents with environmental justice concerns, and that can help reverse broader patterns of institutional and structural exclusion from decision-making.  

The ideal candidate must demonstrate the following research skills and competencies. 

• Familiarity with chemical transport modeling and/or machine learning.  

• Desire to apply skills to issues of environmental justice. 

Experience working with non-profit advocacy organizations in public health is not required; PIs, including a Houston, Texas-based non-profit advocacy organization working to reduce the public health impacts from air pollution, will provide mentoring in environmental justice and air quality decision-making. 

Climate Fellows Postdoctoral Model: 

Once selected, the Postdoctoral Research Associate will join a cohort of other Climate Fellows Program postdocs at UVA and will receive professional training, technical support, and computational infrastructure tailored to their project, for two (2) years. The postdoc will receive direct mentoring from three UVA faculty members in different disciplines, two faculty outside of UVA, and an environmental justice leader at a community-based organization to help them build cross-disciplinary fluency in support of their own research. They will join a network of faculty members from 30 departments in 12 schools across UVA focused on producing research and providing training that is both great and good at the intersection of climate change and human well-being.  

We partner with the Office of Graduate and Postdoctoral Affairs, UVA’s Career Center, and staff across the university to provide career development and extracurricular opportunities to student and postdoctoral faculty.  

Starting salary: $65,000/year 

Research Funds: $5,000/year 

About the Institute: 

  
The UVA Environmental Institute is the hub of interdisciplinary environmental research at the university. We provide seed funding, research experiences, and training to faculty, postdoctoral fellows, and students from the university’s 12 schools. With a focus on impactful research, the Institute and its collaborators are committed to our mission to support interdisciplinary research and training that is both great and good at the intersection of climate change and human well-being, while ensuring that the full spectrum of human attributes, perspectives, identities, backgrounds, and disciplines is represented and making an explicit effort to diversify voices in finding equitable solutions for climate adaptation and mitigation.  

The University of Virginia is rated as one of the top three public universities in the nation and in the top 30 among all universities, public and private. Charlottesville is frequently cited as one of the best cities in which to live and work. The University of Virginia is an equal opportunity and affirmative action employer.  

To Apply:  

External Applicants: Apply online , and search for ‘R0055865.’ Complete an application online and attach the following:  

• CV/Resumé  

• Cover Letter, describing your research interest and how it aligns with the project.  

• Personal Statement (highly encouraged, but not required), describing how your experiences relating to race, ethnicity, gender, or any other kind of identity marker have shaped your ability to contribute to the University of Virginia.  

• Contact information for three (3) references (name, email, telephone, and address).  

Internal UVA Applicants: Please apply through your Workday Home page, search “Find Jobs.”  

Application Timeline:  

• Application Opens: December 18, 2023  

• Early application reviews will begin on January 20, 2023  

For questions about the position, please contact Henry Boachi, Program Manager, at [email protected] .  

For questions regarding the application process, please contact Jessica Speth, Academic Recruiter, at [email protected] .  

The University of Virginia, i ncluding the UVA Health System which represents the UVA Medical Center, Schools of Medicine and Nursing, UVA Physician’s Group and the Claude Moore Health Sciences Library, are fundamentally committed to the diversity of our faculty and staff.  We believe diversity is excellence expressing itself through every person's perspectives and lived experiences.  We are equal opportunity and affirmative action employers. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, color, disability, gender identity or expression, marital status, national or ethnic origin, political affiliation, race, religion, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, veteran status, and family medical or genetic information.