APPLICATION INSTRUCTIONS:

• CURRENT PENN STATE EMPLOYEE (faculty, staff, technical service, or student), please login to Workday to complete the internal application process. Please do not apply here, apply internally through Workday.

• CURRENT PENN STATE STUDENT (not employed previously at the university) and seeking employment with Penn State, please login to Workday to complete the student application process. Please do not apply here, apply internally through Workday.

• If you are NOT a current employee or student, please click “Apply” and complete the application process for external applicants.

 

Approval of remote and hybrid work is not guaranteed regardless of work location. For additional information on remote work at Penn State, see Notice to Out of State Applicants.

This is a term position; length of the term will be discussed during the interview process. Continuation past the term length discussed will be based on university need, performance, and/or availability of funding.

 

POSITION SPECIFICS

The Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics at Penn State invites applications for a Postdoctoral Researcher to work with Dr. Suvrath Mahadevan and collaborators. The proposed research lies in three subject areas: (1) further developing theories of tidal dissipation within the host stars of hot Jupiters, (2) exploring the hydrodynamics of planet-forming disks with binary companions, and (3) looking for signatures of tidal oscillations and tidal heating in exoplanets, tying predictions to observations with JWST. The applicant should strengthen first-principles planet formation theory within the department.

Penn State is home to the Center for Exoplanets & Habitable Worlds and the Planetary System Science Center, and has a significant community of researchers who study exoplanetary and planetary science. Penn State is also home to the Institute for Gravitation and the Cosmos and its Center for Multimessenger Astrophysics, and the Swift Mission Operation Center, which includes members of several experiments, such as LIGO, the IceCube Neutrino Observatory, and the HAWC TeV gamma-ray detector.

Education and Experience

A PhD in Astronomy, Physics, or a closely related field is required. Experience in planet formation and theoretical astrophysics would be a plus, judged by the applicant’s publication record. Previous research in stellar astronomy, high-energy as