Jobs at BGC

Postdoctoral Position in U-series Dating with Application to Lake and Speleothem Paleoclimate Proxy Records

Postdoctoral Researcher For Scientific Data Management And Analysis Project
 

The Berkeley Geochronology Center is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer.  All qualified applications will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or protected veteran status.

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Postdoctoral Position in U-series Dating with Application to Lake and Speleothem Paleoclimate Proxy Records
 

The Berkeley Geochronology Center seeks a postdoctoral researcher to collaborate on an NSF-funded project titled, “Western U.S. hydroclimate during the Last Interglacial: developing proxy records and using model intercomparison to glimpse the future”. The project will apply innovative geochemical and geochronological approaches to lake cores and speleothems to evaluate key hydroclimatic variables during the Last Interglacial (c. 129-116 ka), Earth’s most recent period when global temperatures approximated those expected in the coming century.


The project is led by Jessica Oster (Vanderbilt University), Daniel Ibarra (Brown University) and Warren Sharp (Berkeley Geochronology Center; BGC) and includes doctoral students at Vanderbilt and Brown. The postdoc will be based at BGC (Berkeley, California) and will emphasize development of accurate, precise chronologies for proxy records via U-series (U-Th) dating. A key aspect of the postdoc will be developing, testing, and applying novel approaches to U-Th dating of carbonate-rich core materials from selected western US lakes. We anticipate the postdoc will help mentor the Vanderbilt and Brown graduate students during visits to BGC.


Candidates with expertise in one or more of the fields of radioisotope geochronology, low temperature geochemistry, and carbonate petrology are preferred.


BGC hosts a fully operational U-Th dating facility including a multi-collector ICP-MS, an excimer laser, clean lab and supporting preparation labs. Postdoctoral training at BGC takes place in a rich scholarly environment with contact not only with BGC staff scientists and postdocs but also students, postdocs and faculty of the Earth and Planetary Sciences Department at UC Berkeley, with which BGC maintains close ties. BGC postdocs generally have joint appointments at BGC and UC Berkeley. Compensation includes salary plus a comprehensive benefits package. We strongly encourage members of underrepresented groups to apply. Start date is on or after January 10, 2022 by mutual agreement. Duration is 18 months with the possibility of extension.

 

A PhD or equivalent international degree in Earth science is required by the start date. To apply: 1) provide a cover letter, a CV, a publications list with links to the publications, and a brief statement of interest as a single PDF document (less than 10 Mb); and 2) arrange for three letters of reference from research advisers or others familiar with your research. Those items should be sent via email to Warren Sharp at wsharp@bgc.org. Inquiries are welcome. Review of applications will begin on June 1, 2021 and continue until the position is filled.

 

For more information on the project, please see the NSF award description.

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Postdoctoral Researcher For Scientific Data Management And Analysis Project

Position

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The Berkeley Geochronology Center seeks a postdoctoral researcher to work on a geochronology data management and analysis project funded by the National Science Foundation. BGC is a non-profit, foundation-funded Earth science research institute located in Berkeley, California, close to the University of California campus. 

 

The position has an initial term of one year and is renewable for up to two additional years. 

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Position Description

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This position reports directly to the project Principal Investigator. 

 

The role of the postdoctoral researcher will be to develop Earth science research and/or education applications for the “ICE-D” (Informal Cosmogenic-nuclide Exposure-age Database) database and computational infrastructure project. The project is mainly focused on applications of cosmogenic-nuclide geochemistry to Earth surface process studies including, for example, paleoclimate, glacier and ice sheet change, paleoseismic reconstruction, or quantitative geomorphology. However, other research areas are possible -- the main point is to creatively develop synoptic applications of geochronological data.  

 

This will involve contributing to a number of tasks:

 

  • Developing and populating databases of  geochronological data, primarily focused on cosmogenic-nuclide geochemistry but possibly in other areas of geochronology

  • Participating in software development at all levels

  • Envisioning and implementing new Earth science research and/or education applications for data and software resources developed in the project

  • Training researchers, students, and other project participants in how to use and contribute to the development of databases, software, and science and/or outreach applications

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Required Qualifications

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PhD in a field related to the project, including substantial expertise in a relevant area of geochronology. This will most likely have something to do with cosmogenic-nuclide geochemistry, but other relevant areas will be considered.

 

Broad knowledge of applications of geochronological data to Earth surface processes, most likely in the areas of paleoclimate, glacier and ice sheet change, paleoseismic reconstruction, quantitative geomorphology, or Earth surface processes generally. However, this is not a comprehensive list and many other application areas could be relevant to the project. 

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Demonstrated ability to learn and use a variety of software tools, programming languages, and computation environments. This will probably include at a minimum SQL, Python, MATLAB, and Linux system administration, but the postdoctoral researcher will be  expected to learn about and participate in full-stack website development, scientific data analysis, and GIS applications. The most important thing is not knowledge of specific software but a demonstrated ability to rapidly learn and become comfortable with a variety of software tools. 

 

Demonstrated oral and written (in English) and visual communication skills.

 

Interest and ability in teaching and outreach associated with all aspects of the project to other researchers and students. 

 

Completion of a Ph.D. is required before appointment. 

 

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Additional Preferred Qualifications

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Knowledge of scientific computing languages/frameworks, for example MATLAB/Octave, R, NumPy/SciPy. 

 

Knowledge of GIS analysis, in particular interactive mapping and open GIS WMS/WFS frameworks (e.g., Leaflet). 

 

An interest in social engineering aspects of scientific data management, as highlighted in the proposal linked below. 

 

Knowledge of and/or experience in data analysis and visualization. 

How To Apply

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Prospective candidates should read the following materials:

 

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and submit the following by email to employment@bgc.org:

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  • A current CV and list of any relevant publications

  • A description of how your qualifications relate to the project, what aspects of the project you are most interested in working on, and how you believe you would contribute to the project. 

  • Names and contact information for three references. 

 

Review of applications will begin May 31, 2021 and continue until the position is filled. 


For additional information or inquiries  about this position, contact Greg Balco (balcs@bgc.org).