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Postdoctoral Coastal Engineering Research

Description
The U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center's Coastal & Hydraulics Laboratory (CHL) performs research on ocean, estuarine, riverine, and watershed systems in support of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) and the Department of Defense (DOD) Task Force in support of the Ocean Commission. A multi-disciplinary team of scientists, engineers, and support personnel work in CHL's internationally known, unique facilities. This team has developed state-of-the-art experimental and computational models for solving water resource problems worldwide. CHL research and development addresses water resource and navigation challenges in a variety of hydrodynamic systems including aquifers, watersheds, rivers, reservoirs, lakes, estuaries, harbors, coastal inlets, and wetlands. Physical facilities of approximately 1.7 million square feet and high-performance computing facilities at the DOD Supercomputing Research Center (http://www.erdc.hpc.mil) are the basic infrastructure for producing cutting-edge products for successful coastal, inland water resources, and navigation management. CHL work, although primarily in support of the DOD and the Corp's districts, also interfaces with other federal, state and local agencies, academia, conservation groups, and the general public, as appropriate. The Research Participation Program for USACE-ERDC-CHL provides opportunities to participate in new and on-going applied research and development projects. Research projects range from design guidance to three-dimensional computational models. Focus is placed on inland and coastal navigation, military logistics over the shore, dredging, flood control, storm and erosion protection, waterway restoration, fish passage, hydro-environmental modeling, water/land management, and other water and sediment-related issues facing the nation. For more information about USACE-ERDC-CHL, please visit https://www.erdc.usace.army.mil/Locations/CHL/.

The prospective candidate will research at the Coastal Model Test Bed, located at Field Research Facility (FRF) in Duck, North Carolina. This research focuses on utilizing the rich observations available at the FRF to asses performance capabilities and deficiencies of nearshore numerical models (wave, circulation, and morphological evolution models). Research will begin by focusing on developing operational framework and new model incorporation. To follow, the participant will analyze model results and focus on writing papers. Areas of interest include, but are not limited to Validation, Verification, and Uncertainty Quantification (VVUQ), model performance comparisons, model deficiency identifications, or physical processes studies.
Research may also include the following:
  • Preparing data collection products for model comparisons
  • Development of model specific data input/output code
  • Development of data analysis routines
  • Routine monitoring of status of modeling runs and instrumentation data
  • Assisting in general operations of the facility
  • Participation as crew member on an amphibious vehicle or boat
The applicant will work closely with COAB staff and may be required to travel off-site to support ongoing work. For further information please visit https://frf.usace.army.mil

Appointment Length
This ORISE appointment is for a 12 month period.  Appointments may be extended depending on funding availability, project assignment, program rules, and availability of the participant.

Participant Benefits
Participants will receive a stipend to be determined by ERDC-CHL. Stipends are typically based on the participant’s academic standing, discipline, experience, and research facility location. Other benefits may include the following:
  • Health Insurance Supplement. Participants are eligible to purchase health insurance through ORISE.
  • Relocation Allowance
  • Training and Travel Allowance

Nature of Appointment
The participant will not enter into an employee/employer relationship with ORISE, ORAU, DOD, or any other office or agency. Instead, the participant will be affiliated with ORISE for the administration of the appointment through the ORISE appointment letter and Terms of Appointment.
 
Qualifications
The participant will be exposed to all aspects of the research process, from the collection and processing of field measurements to applying the data in numerical modeling studies in the coastal model test bed (CMTB). Actual research activities will depend on agreed direction and area of interest; however, scientific research will be conducted on coastal processes and writing MATLAB and/or python code in a collaborative environment.

Minimum requirements:
  • Doctorate Degree in Oceanography, coastal engineering, or closely related field
  • demonstrated data analysis skills
  • strong history of published works
  • strong programming background (eg MATLAB or python) and capability to learn new programming language     

Additional consideration will be given to the candidates with experience in the following:
  • version control software
  • parallel processing
  • python, bash, fortran