Postdoctoral Research Associate in Global Land Surface Remote Sensing

Description

The Institute at Brown for Environment and Society (IBES) at Brown University is accepting applications for a postdoctoral research scientist in global land surface remote sensing.  This position is part of a NASA-funded team devoting their efforts to generate new quality-filtering criteria and stratifications for the Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation, a multibeam waveform lidar sensor currently in orbit on the International Space Station.

The successful applicant will advance NASA capabilities with respect to the following four issues.

1. Adapt a new 30 m resolution vegetation type data product derived from the Landsat data record to support GEDI aboveground biomass density models, and evaluate the potential of this 30 m data product to replace the current 1 km version derived from MODIS MCD12Q1;
2. Replace the 500 m resolution land-surface phenology data product currently used for GEDI quality filtering with a 30 m resolution version from Landsat;
3. Develop new models to predict aboveground biomass density using GEDI data that consider alternative forms of stratification; and
4. Apply these new models to on-orbit GEDI data in combination with high-resolution vegetation type and land-surface phenology maps. Together these changes will decrease uncertainty in GEDI estimates of aboveground carbon, increase the amount of publicly available high-quality GEDI data through improved quality filtering, and improve the ability of GEDI to meet mission operation requirements.

The initial appointment will be for one year and subject to renewal upon the satisfactory performance evaluation of NASA PI Dr. James Kellner at Brown University (IBES Faculty and GEDI co-Investigator).  This position also regularly interfaces with Project co-Investigators Dr. Mark Friedl (Boston University Center for Remote Sensing and Department of Earth and Environment) and Dr. Paulo Arévalo (Boston University Center for Remote Sensing and Department of Earth and Environment).

Qualifications

Applicants should have a PhD (or be in the final year of PhD work with certainty of completion before this position begins) in applied mathematics, biology, computer science, data science, geography, geodesy, geophysics, engineering, machine learning, remote sensing, statistics, or a closely-related field.  Experience using remote sensing, geographic information systems, or other spatial data is required. 

The successful applicant will become a member of IBES and the NASA GEDI Science Team. This requires regular on-campus work at Brown Univertisty in Providence, RI. It also requires regional travel between Providence, RI and Boston, MA for meetings and presentations with co-Investigators Friedl and Arévalo at Boston University, in addition to various GEDI Team Meetings held near or in Washington D.C. or Flagstaff, Arizona.

Application Instructions

Applicants should submit: A cover letter describing your qualification and interest in the position, a current CV, and names and contact information for three references. Questions should be directed to james_r_kellner@brown.edu.

 

Equal Employment Opportunity Statement

Brown University provides equal opportunity and prohibits discrimination, harassment and retaliation based upon a person’s race, color, religion, sex, age, national or ethnic origin, disability, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, or any other characteristic protected under applicable law, in the administration of its policies, programs, and activities. The University recognizes and rewards individuals on the basis of qualifications and performance. The University maintains certain affirmative action programs in compliance with applicable law.