Usda-Ars ORISE Postdoctoral Fellowship Using NISAR Radar Data to Characterize Agricultural

How To Apply

To submit your application, scroll to the bottom of this opportunity and click APPLY.

• An application
• Transcript(s) – For this opportunity, an unofficial transcript or copy of the student academic records printed by the applicant or by academic advisors from internal institution systems may be submitted.  for detailed information about acceptable transcripts.
• A current resume/CV, including academic history, employment history, relevant experiences, and publication list
• Two educational or professional recommendations
• A copy of an abstract or reprint of an article

U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)

USDA-ARS-NEA-

4/10/2026 3:00:00 PM Eastern Time Zone

Applications are reviewed on a rolling-basis.

A postdoctoral research opportunity is available with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Agricultural Research Service (ARS), Hydrology and Remote Sensing Laboratory. This opportunity is in Beltsville, Maryland.

The Agricultural Research Service (ARS) is the U.S. Department of Agriculture's chief scientific in-house research agency with a mission to find solutions to agricultural problems that affect Americans every day from field to table. ARS will deliver cutting‑edge, scientific tools and innovative solutions for American farmers, producers, industry, and communities to support the nourishment and well‑being of all people; sustain our nation’s agroecosystems and natural resources;

and ensure the economic competitiveness and excellence of our agriculture. The vision of the agency is to provide global leadership in agricultural discoveries through scientific excellence.

The Postdoctoral Program of the USDA ARS offers research opportunities to motivated postdoctoral fellows interested in solving agriculture-related problems at a range of spatial and temporal scales, from the genome to the continent, and sub‑daily to evolutionary time scales.

This postdoctoral opportunity entails two major goals. One goal is for the candidate to gain experience in situ monitoring by establishing a soil moisture monitoring network within agricultural fields for validating NISAR products. The second goal is for the candidate to learn about new technologies in radar and optical remote sensing (e.g., satellite, aircraft, drone, pheno‑camera) to address current issues in agriculture, such improving the cropland and soil moisture mapping results from NISAR.

In collaboration with researchers at USDA‑ARS, the participant will have opportunities to:

• Leverage new data and products from the NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) mission to evaluate agricultural and soil moisture products within agricultural fields during growing season.
• Participate in a cross‑site field experiment that will capture soil moisture and other ancillary field data to help with ground truthing the satellite products, collaborating with USDA‑ARS scientists across the country.
• Investigate the differences between the NISAR soil moisture and agricultural products (Crop Area) and provide recommendations on their relative strength and weaknesses for end-users.
• Help develop new or improve existing soil moisture estimates using NISAR and other datasets utilizing artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning.

The outcome from the project is anticipated to advance scientific knowledge in support of the USDA research of ’Promoting Soil Health to Regenerate Long‑Term Productivity of Land’.

The candidate will have opportunities to improve their knowledge with radar and optical data, geographical information systems, and field measurements such as soil moisture.

The mentor for this opportunity is Simon Kraatz (simon.kraatz). If you have questions about the nature of the research, please contact the mentor(s).

May 4, 2026. Start date is flexible and will depend on a variety of factors.

The appointment will initially be for one year, but may be renewed upon recommendation of ARS and is contingent on the availability of funds.

The appointment is…