Postdoctoral Researcher - Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

West Virginia University • West Virginia, WV

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About The Position

The Wadsworth Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at West Virginia University invites applications for a Postdoctoral Researcher to work with Dr. Onur Avci on interdisciplinary research involving artificial intelligence, machine learning, computer vision, structural health monitoring, and condition assessment of civil infrastructure. The successful candidate will contribute primarily to externally funded research projects applying advanced sensing, computational, and AI-based methods to infrastructure monitoring and decision-making. Projects include developing automated methods to detect and characterize anomalies at mine-land and impoundment facilities, and identifying drainage conditions that contribute to pavement deterioration while developing data-driven methods for early detection and intervention prioritization.

Research activities include analyzing UAV-acquired imagery, LiDAR and 3D point-cloud data; computer-vision-based anomaly detection; machine learning and transfer learning; automated condition assessment; pavement-condition and field-monitoring data; moisture measurements; multimodal data integration; and developing infrastructure risk and decision-support tools. This is a full-time, one-year appointment with potential for renewal based on performance and funding availability. The anticipated start date is January 2027.

Requirements

• Ph.D. in Civil Engineering completed by the anticipated start date.
• Strong programming skills in Python.
• Experience with machine learning and/or deep learning.
• Experience with computer vision and image/data analysis.
• Experience with computational analysis and scientific programming.
• Strong written and oral communication skills.
• Ability to conduct independent research while working effectively within a multidisciplinary research team.

Nice To Haves

• At least three lead-author peer-reviewed publications.
• Research experience applying AI/ML to civil infrastructure, structural health monitoring, or infrastructure condition assessment.
• Experience with UAV-based inspection, RGB or thermal imagery, LiDAR, 3D point clouds, or other remote-sensing data.
• Experience developing deep-learning models for image classification, object detection, semantic segmentation, anomaly detection, or related applications.
• Experience working with large or heterogeneous engineering datasets.
• Experience with transportation infrastructure, pavement engineering, dams, embankments, mine-land infrastructure, or related systems.
• Demonstrated ability to prepare high-quality journal manuscripts and technical reports.

Responsibilities

• Develop and implement machine-learning, deep-learning, and computer-vision methods for civil infrastructure applications.
• Process and analyze imagery, LiDAR/point-cloud, sensor, field, and infrastructure-condition datasets.
• Develop computational workflows for infrastructure anomaly detection, classification, condition assessment, and risk evaluation.
• Participate in field-data collection, experimental planning, and validation of developed methods.
• Integrate multiple data sources to support infrastructure monitoring and decision-making.
• Prepare technical reports, peer-reviewed journal manuscripts, conference papers, and presentations.
• Contribute to research proposal development and project deliverables.
• Collaborate with faculty, graduate students, government agencies, and other project partners.
• Assist in mentoring graduate and undergraduate researchers.

What This Job Offers

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