Assistant​/Associate​/Project Scientist - Department of Earth & Planetary Science

Position overview

Salary range: The UC academic salary scales set the minimum pay determined by rank and step  the following table for the salary scale for this position:
Table 37b. The current base salary range for this position is $79,400 - $192,400.

Percent time: 100%

Anticipated start: Fall 2026

Position duration: One year with the possibility of an extension depending on performance and continuation of appropriate funding.

Open date: July 24, 2026

Next review date: Friday, Aug 7, 2026 at 11:59pm (Pacific Time). Apply by this date to ensure full consideration by the committee.

Final date: Sunday, Aug 23, 2026 at 11:59pm (Pacific Time). Applications will continue to be accepted until this date, but those received after the review date will only be considered if the position has not yet been filled.

The Department of Earth & Planetary Science at the University of California, Berkeley seeks a Project Scientist to conduct research in the domain of Atmospheric Science.

The candidate will help to create advanced forecasts of high-impact weather and climate phenomena for deployment at scale in tropical countries. As part of a multidisciplinary collaboration between universities, international development agencies, and governmental ministries in multiple countries, the selected candidate will contribute to the development of forecasts of dangerous heat stress, precipitation, monsoon onset, and other tropical phenomena using a range of physics-based, artificial intelligence, and statistical weather prediction models.

The candidate will play a central role in Berkeley's new Tropical Risk Project; this project has grown out of a collaboration with the University of Chicago that, over the past two years, developed new AI-enabled long-lead forecasts of rainy season onset that were distributed to over 50 million farmers in India and subsequently institutionalized in the Indian government.

This Project Scientist role will help broaden this program to other phenomena, including heat stress, and support its expansion into other countries. In addition to original scholarly research, the role will involve managing activities of the project and contributing to writing of grant proposals. The position will be supervised by Profs. William Boos (Department of Earth and Planetary Science) and Lucas Vargas Zeppetello (Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management).

The research group of Prof. Boos focuses on large-scale atmospheric dynamics, using theory, observational analyses, and numerical models to understand and better predict monsoons, heat waves, intense precipitation and other weather and climate phenomena. Prof. Vargas Zeppetello leads the Plant Land-Atmosphere Climate Exchange (PLACE) group, which studies the relationships between water, energy, and carbon at Earth's land surface, with implications for drought, heat waves, ecohydrology, and the terrestrial carbon cycle.

• Develop novel decision-oriented forecasting metrics, develop forecasting systems using AI, statistical, and physics-based methods, and evaluate forecast skill compared to novel baselines tailored for decision-makers.
• Work as a key member of a fast-paced, multi-institutional team to develop built-for-purpose regional forecasts to improve livelihoods of farmers in low- and middle-income countries.
• Build fundamental understanding of the forecasting potential for high-impact phenomena, such as extreme heat, using AI and statistical weather models.
• Collaborate with meteorological agencies in multiple countries to help build an operational system to provide actionable, real-time predictions to tens of millions of people throughout the tropics, leveraging last-mile delivery pipelines developed by non-governmental partner organizations.
• Disseminating research results through presentations and publications, and mentoring more junior project staff.
• Contribute to writing of grant proposals.

Labor Contract
: (Use the "Apply for this Job" box below)..html

Forecasting the Onset of the Indian Monsoon - HCWF
:…