Verification, Validation and Uncertainty Quantification Postdoc

What You Will Do

Are you ready to begin a career assessing predictive confidence of computational physics codes? If so, we encourage you to learn more about our Postdoctoral Research Associate openings in the Computational Physics:
Verification & Analysis group (XCP-8) at the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). We are looking for several highly motivated post-doctoral candidates in the areas of verification, validation (V&V) and uncertainty quantification (UQ). In this role you will apply analysis methods, including V&V, UQ, Automatic Differentiation, and/or surrogate models to assess computational physics simulations of materials under extreme conditions. A background in a relevant field of physics is preferred (e.g. hydrodynamics, fluid dynamics, shock physics, turbulence, solid mechanics, material strength, material failure, plasma physics, radiation transport, and/or magneto hydrodynamics).

You will have the opportunity to publish results in peer‑reviewed journals and present at top‑tier conferences.

A background in computational physics in a relevant or closely related field, e.g. hydrodynamics, plasma physics, shock physics, fluid mechanics, solid mechanics, and/or material dynamics and advanced analysis of simulations, including but not limited to verification, validation, uncertainty quantification, sensitivity analysis, optimization, inverse problems or a closely related focus area.

Demonstrated experience in development, setup, execution, and/or postprocessing of numerical models and simulations. You will need the ability to run export‑controlled codes which generally requires US Citizenship or Permanent Residency.

You will need to have conducted high level research in one or more of the following areas: simulation, verification, validation, uncertainty quantification, sensitivity analysis, optimization, inverse problems or a closely related focus area.

For this role you will need to be familiar with at least one of:
Fortran, C++ and/or Python. Alternately experience programming in Matlab and R may be substituted.

You will need to show that you have the ability to publish research in peer‑reviewed journals or conference proceedings, communicate research to an interdisciplinary audience and work on an interdisciplinary team. This should be demonstrated by being the first author, or among a small set of co‑authors, on at least one paper published, or accepted for publication, in a peer‑reviewed journal or in a major peer‑reviewed conference proceedings.

PhD in mathematics, physics, materials science, chemistry, engineering, statistics or a closely related discipline. The candidate must be within 5 years of completion of PhD at time of being proposed for review by the committee, or will have completed all PhD requirements by commencement of the appointment.

• Experience working with both numerical modeling and experimentation.
• Familiarity using High Performance Computing clusters.
• Experience with one or more of these subject areas: radiation transport, high‑energy‑density physics, equations‑of‑state, shock physics, high explosive modeling, material failure, material strength under high strain rates, magneto hydrodynamics.
• Proficient with software engineering tools like: version control systems; web‑based software repository systems; issue trackers; online collaboration platforms; and continuous integration systems.

To be considered for the position, applicants should submit a CV/resume and a detailed cover letter addressing how their experience relates to each of the required and desired skills as applicable. Regular post‑doctoral appointments are for two years and are renewable for a third year. Outstanding candidates may be eligible for a LANL Director's Fellowship. For specific inquiries regarding the position, please contact Dr.

Brandon Wilson (bwilson).

The work location for this position is onsite and located in Los Alamos, NM. All work locations are at the discretion of…