Postdoctoral Research Associate

Job Title

Postdoctoral Research Associate

Agency

Texas A&M Agrilife Research

Department

Animal Science

Proposed Minimum Salary

$16.00 hourly

Job Location

College Station, Texas

Job Type

Staff

Job Description

About Texas A&M AgriLife

Texas A&M AgriLife is comprised of the following Texas A&M University System members:

• Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service
• Texas A&M AgriLife Research
• College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Texas A&M University
• Texas A&M Forest Service
• Texas A&M Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory

As the nation’s largest most comprehensive agriculture program, Texas A&M AgriLife brings together a college and four state agencies focused on agriculture and life sciences within The Texas A&M University System. With over 5,000 employees and a presence in every county across the state, Texas A&M AgriLife is uniquely positioned to improve lives, environments and the Texas economy through education, research, extension and service.

Click here to learn more about how you can be a part of AgriLife and make a difference in the world!

Position Information

Texas A&M AgriLife Research seeks a highly motivated Post‑Doctoral Research Associate to join a multidisciplinary team developing advanced techno‑economic, systems modeling and decision‑support tools to improve the resilience of small and mid-sized dairy farms in the United States. The position is part of a USDA-funded project led by Dr. Sushil Paudyal and Dr. Karun Kaniyamattam, with close collaboration from a new PhD student and an extended multi-institutional research team across Texas, California, and Wisconsin.

This objective includes:

• Building conceptual causal loop diagrams (CLDs) to represent farm-level feedback structures.

• Developing and calibrating a quantitative system dynamics (SD) model to simulate alternative dairy management strategies under diverse economic and biological scenarios.

• Integrating outputs from dairy business analysis (DBA) and multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA).

• Contributing to the development of an R Shiny–based, web-enabled decision-support tool for farmers, using machine learning (random forest) predictive models.

• Working closely with the PhD student and PIs to ensure rigorous model development, documentation, and validation.

This position offers unique opportunities to contribute to high‑impact translational research at the intersection of animal science, economics, systems modeling, data science, and agricultural decision-making.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead the design of system dynamics models for dairy farm decision-making, including development of stocks, flows, feedback loops, and scenario experiments.

• Translate conceptual CLDs into quantifiable models using software such as Stella Architect®, Vensim®, or similar SD tools.

• Integrate production, financial, and behavioral data collected in Objectives 1 and 2 into dynamic modeling structures.

• Conduct scenario analyses to evaluate management transitions (automation, organic transition, raw milk sales, dairy‑beef diversification).

• Collaborate on building a web‑based decision-support tool in R Shiny with ML-based predictive components.

• Mentor and work closely with a PhD student on model development and documentation.

• Prepare manuscripts for peer-reviewed journals and present findings at scientific conferences.

• Contribute to team meetings, stakeholder engagement, and project reporting.

Qualifications

Required:

• Ph.D. in Animal Science, Veterinary Medicine, Systems Science, Industrial Engineering, Applied Mathematics, Data Science, or a closely related field.

• Experience with