Postdoctoral Research Associate

Texas A&M University System • College Station, TX

1d

About The Position

The Carbon Cycle and Earth Environment (CACEE) Lab in the Department of Oceanography at Texas A&M University invites applications for a Postdoctoral Research Associate, offering a unique opportunity to investigate river system responses to terrestrial enhanced weathering. This position is part of the Global Ocean and Land Alkalinization (GOAL‑A) project, funded by the Department of Energy’s Earth Shot initiative and led collaboratively by researchers at Yale, Georgia Tech, Princeton, and Texas A&M. The Postdoctoral Research Associate will examine how downstream carbon cycling responds to enhanced terrestrial weathering, with a focus on changes in aquatic geochemistry and carbon fluxes within the interconnected river–lake–groundwater–atmosphere–sediment system.

Requirements

• Ph.D. in Geosciences or a related field.
• Prior experience in river modeling, river-lake network analysis and biogeochemistry.
• Demonstrated ability to solve complex differential equations, essential for modeling fluid dynamics and geochemical processes in river-lake systems.
• Extensive knowledge of river topology, including understanding of riverine structures, branching patterns, and flow dynamics.
• Experience in network analysis, capable of analyzing and interpreting the interconnectedness and hierarchical structuring of river systems.
• Familiarity with software and tools for simulating river network dynamics, such as R, Julia, Python, or GIS-based hydrological modeling platforms.
• Ability to integrate physical, chemical, and biological components into the river-lake network models to simulate realistic environmental conditions.
• Experience with various hydrology, hydraulic, sediment transport, and water quality models, especially public domain models.
• Experience with simulation of carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus cycling in the water column and sediments of rivers, lakes, and reservoirs. Common examples include, but are not limited to, SWAT, ATS, or CrunchFlow.
• Collaborative spirit to contribute positively to our multi-institutional team.
• A solid understanding of basic hydrology and water quality.
• Knowledge in coding and modeling dynamic river biogeochemistry change.

Responsibilities

• Develops dynamic river‑lake network models to assess geochemical and ecological changes—including carbon cycling and elemental fluxes—resulting from enhanced rock weathering.
• Writes approximately two manuscripts and co‑authors additional research papers and journal articles with students on river‑lake responses to enhanced rock weathering.
• Participates in collaborative research activities (e.g. group meetings, annual PI meetings), presents at research conferences, and liaises with departmental and cross‑departmental peers on collaborative projects.
• Serves as PI or Co‑PI on new grants, overseeing research activities, experimental design, and the associated budget and expense management.
• Mentors students by encouraging them to develop research ideas and hypotheses and working collaboratively to refine and test those ideas.

Benefits

• Medical, prescription drug, dental, vision, life and AD&D, flexible spending accounts, and long-term disability insurance with Texas A&M contributing to employee health and basic life premiums
• 12-15 days of annual paid holidays
• Up to eight hours of paid sick leave and at least eight hours of paid vacation each month
• Automatic enrollment in the Teacher Retirement System of Texas
• Health and Wellness: Free exercise programs and release time
• Professional Development: All employees have access to free LinkedIn Learning training, webinars, and limited financial support to attend conferences, workshops, and more
• Educational release time and tuition assistance for completing a degree while a Texas A&M employee

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Entry Level
• Education Level: Ph.D. or professional degree