Postdoc Research Associate - Aerospace Engineering

Position Title:

Postdoc Research Associate - Aerospace Engineering

Appointment Type:

Post Doc/Trainee

Job Description:

Summary of Duties and Responsibilities:

The Postdoctoral Research Associates will work under the direction of Prof. Abhishek Halder and will conduct interdisciplinary research in the areas of stochastic control, optimal mass transport, and the Schrödinger bridge. They will pursue collaborative research publications and will help mentor graduate students. The position requires a Ph.D. (or equivalent foreign degree) in engineering, computer science, operations research, mathematics, or a related field.

Required Minimum Qualifications:

Ph.D. (or equivalent foreign degree) in engineering, computer science, operations research, mathematics, or a related field.

Strong analytical, computational, and written communication skills evidenced by a publication record in the area of control theory, mathematical optimization, AI, or machine learning.

Preferred Qualifications:

Publication record in optimal mass transport, Schrödinger bridge, stochastic calculus, in venues such as IEEE TAC, Automatica, SIAM J. Control and Optimization, SIAM J. Mathematics of Data Science, CDC, ACC, NeurIPS, ICLR, AISTATS, ICML, JMLR, TMLR
 

Department/Program & College Description:

Iowa State has a long history of educational and research excellence in aerospace engineering. This includes training students for engineering careers in aviation, starting as early as 1928; housing one of five NASA centers of excellence in Computational Fluid Dynamics in the 1970s; building the world’s first Tornado and Downburst simulator; and housing the only university icing research wind tunnel in the United States.

Department Unit/Website:

https://www.engineering.iastate.edu/

Proposed Start Date:

February 1, 2026

Proposed End Date or Length of Term:

January 31, 2027

Number of Months Employed Per Year:

12 Month Work Period

Time Type:

Full time

Application Instructions:

To apply for this position, please click on “Apply” and complete the Employment Application. Please be prepared to enter or attach the following:

1) Resume/Curriculum Vitae
2) Letter of Application/Cover Letter

If you have questions regarding this application process, please email employment@iastate.edu or call 515-294-4800 or Toll Free: 1-877-477-7485.

Why Choose ISU?

Iowa State Postdocs enjoy comprehensive health and work-life benefits, including medical and dental; as well as:
• Retirement benefits including defined benefit and defined contribution plans
• Generous vacation, holiday, and sick time and leave plans
• Onsite childcare (Ames, Iowa)
• Flexible Spending Accounts
• Various voluntary benefits and discounts
• Employee Assistance Program
• Wellbeing Program

Original Posting Date:

January 5, 2026

Posting Close Date:

January 19, 2026

Job Requisition Number:

R18356