Postdoctoral Scholar - Transportation systems science

Description

The THINK lab is looking for an enthusiastic, self-motivated Postdoctoral Scholar researcher with demonstrated capability and interest in conducting big data and mobility analysis and/or infrastructure systems analysis. Though it is desirable that the candidate has the skills and interest in conducting both kinds of analyses, applications from those with an interest in primarily one of them are also welcome.

Research in big data/mobility analysis seeks to answer questions such as:

• How biases and uncertainties in big data affect the derived mobility and accessibility metrics that are often used for making transportation related decisions?
• How do travelers respond to personalized rewards?
• How to design transit related systems that can adapt to a range of external conditions?

Research in infrastructure systems analysis seeks to answer questions such as:

• Where does adaptability exist in different urban systems (e.g., land use, food systems, human behaviors and transit related systems?
• When multiple systems of different scales are coupled together, how does that promote or hinder adaptability?
• How to leverage community assets to promote resilience and adaptability at the local scale?

Applicants should have demonstrated capabilities and programming skills that are needed to answer the whole or a subset of the above questions.

Interested applicants are encouraged to contact Cynthia Chen (qzchen@uw.edu) to discuss their interests in this position prior to the application deadline. The preferred duration of this research position is 2-3 years, though the actual length is negotiable. 

The ideal start date is September 2024. The postdoc will be hosted in the Department of Industrial & Systems Engineerin, UW , will interact primarily with members in THINK lab. The postdoc is also expected to interact with a large number of collaborators and stakeholders that THINK lab works with on a number of projects. The immediate supervisor is Professor Cynthia Chen.

The base salary range for this position will be $5,705/ month($68,460/year), or as mandated by the U.S. Department of Labor prevailing wage determination.

 

Postdoctoral scholars are represented by UAW 4121 and are subject to the collective bargaining agreement, unless agreed exclusion criteria apply. For more information, please visit the University of Washington Labor Relations website: https://hr.uw.edu/labor/about-labor-relations.

Duties & Responsibilities:

 

• Develop and implement novel models for adaptable network designs
• Design and implement peer-to-peer resource sharing and information dissemination mechanisms under disaster scenarios
• Lead or work with lab members on human mobility analysis
• Work with stakeholders and other non-UW members on the project
• Prepare high-quality manuscripts
• Disseminate research results through various means (conferences, workshops etc.)
• Lead or work with Prof. Chen on proposals
• Teach classes and mentor students if there is an opportunity
• Develop consistent and interpretable workflows for all projects to ensure reproducibility

Qualifications

 

• Ph.D. in civil engineering, mechanical, electrical and/or computer engineering, industrial systems and engineering, or a closely related field
• Interest in solving domain problems especially adaptable network designs and community resilience related work (esp peer-to-peer resource sharing and information dissemination)
• Strong programming skills (MATLAB, Python, R, or others)
• Solid background in optimization and probability and statistics
• Publications in relevant top-tier journals and conference proceedings
• Strong communication, presentation and documentation skills; and ambition to become a leader in the relevant fields (e.g., professor or senior research positions in a company or national lab)
• Interest in teaching and mentoring students

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