Pale Rainbow Dots: Modeling Atmospheres, Habitability, and Biosignatures of Terrestrial-siz

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

The NASA Postdoctoral Program (NPP) offers unique research opportunities to highly-talented scientists to engage in ongoing NASA research projects at a NASA Center, NASA Headquarters, or at a NASA-affiliated research institute. These one- to three-year fellowships are competitive and are designed to advance NASA’s missions in space science, Earth science, aeronautics, space operations, exploration systems, and astrobiology.

From afar, all planets are pale dots of various colors. Determining whether any one of these single pixels of light represents a living planet is a serious technical and theoretical challenge. This opportunity focuses on modeling a variety of habitable terrestrial planetary atmospheres around different kinds of stars to provide reference environments for future exoplanet observations. The candidate will work with atmospheric, oceanic, interior, ecological, spectral, and instrument models and use the Planetary Spectrum Generator (PSG) to simulate exoplanet spectra.

• Conduct research on the habitability of terrestrial exoplanets using 1-D and 3-D global climate models.
• Develop and extend Fortran and Python codes to meet specific science questions and push the codes beyond current capability.
• Simulate planetary atmospheres for Earth and other planets such as Venus, Mars, Titan, and use tools like Atmospheric Chemistry and Photochemistry models (Atmos, Photochem) and 3-D models (ExoCAM-CARMA, ROCKE3D, WACCM).
• Apply knowledge of solar system history to improve future searches for life on extrasolar planets.
• Coordinate proposed activities with the research team and maintain project timelines.
• Maintain self-sufficiency and demonstrate good organization and time‑management skills.

• Doctoral degree or equivalent experience in atmospheric modeling, climate science, or related field.
• Background in atmospheric modeling (climate and/or photochemistry).
• Proficiency in Fortran and Python coding.
• Experience with 1‑D or 3‑D atmospheric models is preferred.
• Interdisciplinary research experience at the intersection of planetary atmospheres and astrobiology is highly preferable.

Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland

Astrobiology

• Alexander Anatolevich Pavlov – alexander.pavlov 301‑614‑5945
• Avi Mandell – avi.mandell 301‑286‑6293
• Shawn Domagal‑Goldman – shawn.goldman 301‑614‑6245
• Michael Way – michael.way (212) 678‑5665
• Mike McElwain – Michael.
  
  W.McElwain 301‑286‑6094
• Ravi Kumar Kopparapu – ravikumar.kopparapu 301‑286‑1548
• Giada N. Arney – giada.n.arney 301‑614‑6627
• Christopher Stark – christopher.c.stark (240) 441‑1896

• U.S. Citizens
• U.S. Lawful Permanent Residents (LPR)
• Foreign Nationals eligible for an Exchange Visitor J‑1 visa status
• Applicants for LPR, asylees, or refugees in the U.S. at the time of application with a valid EAD card and I‑485 or I‑589 forms in pending status

Applications from citizens of Designated Countries will not be accepted at this time, unless they are legal permanent residents of the United States. A complete list of Designated Countries can be found at https://(Use the "Apply for this Job" box below)..