OPS Temp Visiting Research Scholar - Civil & Environmental Engineering

University of South Florida•Tampa, FL

1d•Onsite

About The Position

The Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of South Florida invites applications for a temporary Visiting Research Scholar to join the Sustainable Adaptation for Flood and Emergency Resilience (SAFER) initiative. SAFER is an interdisciplinary effort funded through USF's Interdisciplinary Center Preparation Grant program to prepare a National Science Foundation Engineering Research Center proposal. It brings together faculty from four USF colleges working in coastal engineering, hydrology, transportation, geosciences, supply chain management, manufacturing, and urban design. SAFER's central goal is the Coastal Adaptation Platform (CAP), an AI/ML-enabled, human-in-the-loop decision-support system connecting coastal storm surge, urban flooding, transportation disruption, logistics, and community vulnerability. The initial testbed is the Tampa Bay region. The Visiting Research Scholar will work with Dr. Andres Tejada-Martinez on CAP's coastal and compound flood modeling component and collaborate with Drs. Mauricio Arias, Yu Zhang, and Barnali Dixon on urban drainage and hydraulics, transportation modeling, geospatial analytics, and the Community Resiliency Information System (CRIS). This is a one-year temporary appointment with potential for extension, offering $25.48 per hour ($53,000 per year) for 40 hours per week, on-site at USF's Tampa campus.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in an appropriate field of specialization, or four years of direct experience as an alternative under the stated degree equivalency clause.
Meet applicable U.S. employment eligibility requirements for the degree-equivalency provision.

Nice To Haves

Experience with compound flooding or coupling coastal models to urban flood or drainage models such as HEC-RAS 2D or SWMM.
Familiarity with GIS and geospatial data processing.
Experience with data assimilation, model-data integration using gauge or sensor data, or machine learning for hydrodynamic or flood prediction.
Interest in how flood hazards affect transportation, logistics, or community vulnerability.
Experience with stakeholder-engaged or applied resilience research.
A PhD in civil, environmental, coastal, or ocean engineering, physical oceanography, hydrology, or a closely related field, completed by the start date; advanced doctoral candidates may be considered.
Hands-on experience with at least one coastal ocean, estuarine, or storm-surge model, such as ADCIRC, ROMS, FVCOM, Delft3D, or SCHISM.
Strong programming skills in Python, MATLAB, Fortran, or C/C++, and experience running simulations on Linux-based high-performance computing systems.
A record of peer-reviewed publications appropriate to career stage.
Ability to work across disciplines and communicate clearly in English, both in writing and orally.

Responsibilities

Set up, calibrate, and validate a 3D coastal storm-surge and circulation model for Tampa Bay and its estuaries, including tides, wind forcing, and river discharge.
Couple coastal model outputs with HEC-RAS for overland and surface flooding and SWMM for stormwater drainage to represent compound flooding from the coast into the urban interior.
Build a library of representative Tampa Bay storm and flood scenarios that produce water-level and inundation fields for transportation impact and supply-chain analyses.
Contribute to the design of SSIF and the Tampa Bay CAP prototype, including data formats, workflows, and dashboard-ready outputs such as flood extent, water depth, and roadway closure risk.
Explore AI/ML approaches, including surrogate modeling and scenario generation, to complement physics-based simulations.
Participate in stakeholder workshops with local governments, emergency managers, transit agencies, and port partners.
Prepare journal publications, conference presentations, and technical material supporting the NSF ERC pre-proposal and related proposals.