Data Science Post-Doctoral Position
Center for Western Weather and Water Extremes (CW3E)
Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California San Diego
Location: La Jolla, California
To apply: Send CV, cover letter, and three references to Luca Delle Monache (ldm@ucsd.edu).
Deadline: Position is available immediately, but applicants will be considered until the position
is filled.
The Center for Western Weather and Water Extremes, (CW3E; cw3e.ucsd.edu) is a research and applications center established in 2014 at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography by its Director, Dr. F. Martin Ralph. CW3E focuses on the physical understanding, observations, and predictions of extreme weather and water events to support effective policies and practices to improve resilience in the Western U.S. CW3E carries out its goals with a diverse network of research and operational partners at several other institutions across the U.S. and internationally. Individuals will be joining a group of several existing Postdoctoral scholars and graduate students, and a number of experienced faculty, researchers, and staff at Scripps who are involved with CW3E. CW3E upholds UC San Diego Principles of Community and is working toward increasing diversity and equity in the Geosciences.
CW3E seeks a Postdoctoral researcher with a background in machine learning or computational science to develop novel methods for the prediction of precipitation and atmospheric river-related quantities (e.g., Integrated Water Vapor Transport – IVT) over the Western U.S., for weather (0-10 days) and subseasonal-to-seasonal (S2S; weeks to months) scales. The successful candidate will develop novel approaches based on machine learning, in combination with traditional postprocessing techniques, to significantly improve both deterministic and probabilistic predictions. Interpretable machine learning research is also a key focus of the work being carried out at CW3E, and various applications of this research are available for the successful candidate to work on.
Applicants should have 0-2 years of Postdoctoral experience or be nearing completion of their Ph.D. (estimated within 3 months) and be self-motivated and hard-working. Good written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to produce scientific publications and presentations and meet project milestones are required. Strong analytical backgrounds with a Ph.D. in computer science, atmospheric science, meteorology, climate science, hydrology, statistics, or environmental engineering is preferred. Programming experience working in a Unix environment with experience in scripting languages such as Python, R, or Matlab is highly desirable, along with experience using common machine learning software (Tensorflow, Keras, CNTK, PyTorch, Scikit-Learn, etc.) on cloud computing environments (AWS, Azure, etc.). Successful applicants should be comfortable working independently with large code libraries and databases, utilizing large meteorological data sets, and producing visualizations.
Per normal Postdoctoral appointment policies, all positions are envisioned as being initially for 1-year, with extension possible contingent upon performance and availability of funding. The University of California San Diego is an Affirmative Action / Equal Opportunity Employer (AA/EOE).
