26-104: Polar Environmental Intelligence Researcher

Colorado State University • College Park, MD

4d • $105,000 - $120,000 • Onsite

About The Position

Description of the Work Unit: The Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere (CIRA) at Colorado State University (CSU) is a multi-million dollar research organization located on CSU's Foothills Campus in Fort Collins, Colorado. CIRA is a cooperative institute that is also a research department within CSU's College of Engineering, in partnership with the Department of Atmospheric Science. Its vision is to conduct interdisciplinary research in the atmospheric sciences by entraining skills beyond the meteorological disciplines, exploiting advances in engineering and computer science, facilitating transitional activity between pure and applied research, leveraging both national and international resources and partnerships, and assisting the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) the National Weather Service (NWS), CSU, the State of Colorado, and the Nation through the application of our research to areas of societal benefit. Based within NOAA/NESDIS/STAR in College Park, Maryland, the NESDIS Environmental Applications Team (NEAT) conducts integrated research and development to transform satellite observations into actionable environmental intelligence across oceanic, atmospheric, terrestrial, and polar domains. Core activities include ocean color science and applications, atmospheric radiative transfer modeling and retrieval development, and microwave remote sensing through systems such as the Microwave Integrated Retrieval System (MiRS), supporting environmental monitoring and forecasting. The team advances coastal and polar applications, with a particular emphasis on Arctic environments, including sea ice analysis, maritime risk assessment, long-term environmental trend analysis, and modern data visualization, while developing user-driven decision-support tools. NEAT is also expanding into next-generation analytical frameworks that integrate satellite remote sensing with cloud-based systems, artificial intelligence, and emerging Earth-system digital twin concepts to interpret large-scale environmental data efficiently. These efforts enhance situational awareness and operational readiness and are closely aligned with mission needs through collaboration with the NOAA Center for Satellite Applications and Research. Position Summary: CIRA seeks to hire a full-time Research Associate with proven experience managing satellite remote sensing data relevant to Earth’s polar regions and developing user-driven applications, particularly for Arctic sea ice. The individual in this position will collaborate with researchers at the NOAA Center for Satellite Applications and Research (STAR) and address research questions and operational needs from analysts supporting the weather enterprise using novel approaches with satellite polar environmental data. Specifically, the individual in this position will establish a new project using novel technologies, such as a Digital Twin of the Earth, informed with NESDIS satellite remote sensing product information, to provide a new approach to efficiently interpret vast amounts of information and identify sea ice pressure risk, which is a hazard for polar mariners. The data, e.g., for sea ice information products at different maturity levels, will have to be established between NOAA PolarWatch and the digital twin. The work will leverage cloud environments and artificial intelligence solutions and requires activities in data management, statistics, and visualization. The development of a product identifying areas of potentially hazardous sea ice pressure will fill a gap in Arctic maritime safety and further our scientific understanding of Arctic ecosystems and their coasts. The individual in this position will be an employee of CIRA-CSU stationed at STAR in College Park, Maryland.

Requirements

• Master’s degree in statistics, data science, physical science, or related field like Remote Sensing, Atmospheric Sciences, Physics, plus 2-4 years of demonstrated experience managing databases, handling satellite data products, and working with the findability, accessibility, interoperability, and reusability (FAIR) principles
• Experience with sea ice satellite information products
• Programming experience in Python or Julia

Nice To Haves

• Experience in software development, particularly with tools for data management, visualization, and analytics applied to complex data
• Experience analyzing and summarizing large data sets
• Experience creating analysis-ready and AI-ready data
• Proven experience working with polar ocean and/or sea ice data environment

Responsibilities

• address research questions stemming from NWS ice analysts’ needs
• support the weather enterprise using novel approaches with satellite polar environmental data products
• maintain data streams with PolarWatch to enable the development of other products leading to enhanced situational awareness for polar mariners, supporting impact-based decision-making for safe operations, and further our scientific understanding of the ecosystems of the Arctic and its coast

Benefits

• Colorado State University is not just a workplace; it’s a thriving community that’s transforming lives and improving the human condition through world-class teaching, research, and service.
• With a robust benefits package, collaborative atmosphere, and focus on work-life balance, CSU is where you can thrive, grow, and make a lasting impact.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level
• Number of Employees: 1-10 employees