Postdoctoral Fellow: Sea-Level Rise Projections & Climate Risk

Position Details

Position Information

The final salary offer may be determined by several factors, including, but not limited to, the candidate's qualifications, experience, and expertise, and availability of department or grant funds to support the position. We also take into consideration market benchmarks, if and when appropriate, and internal equity to ensure fair compensation relative to the university's broader compensation structure. We are committed to offering competitive and flexible compensation packages to attract and retain top talent.

Rutgers provides a comprehensive benefits package to eligible employees. The specific benefits vary based on the position and may include:

• Medical, prescription drug, and dental coverage
• Paid vacation, holidays, and various leave programs
• Competitive retirement benefits, including defined contribution plans and voluntary tax-deferred savings options
• Employee and dependent educational benefits (when applicable)
• Life insurance coverage
• Employee discount programs

The Rutgers University Department of Earth & Planetary Sciences invites applications for highly motivated, creative postdoctoral associates with interests in (a) sea-level rise projections and/or (b) climate risk assessment and management. The candidate will join the Rutgers University Earth System Science & Policy Lab (), under the direction of Professor Robert Kopp, and its collaborators in the Megalopolitan Coastal Transformation Hub (MACH), the NASA Sea-Level Change Team, and the Climate Impact Lab.

Research in the Earth System Science & Policy Lab addresses four interrelated questions:
First, how has sea level changed in the past? Second, how may sea level change in the future in response to climate forcing? Third, how do climate and sea-level change impact the economy and human well-being? Finally, how can climate and sea-level science more effectively support climate risk management under deep uncertainty? The Lab's sea-level projections are highly used; the Framework for Assessment of Changes To Sea-level (FACTS;

https://(Use the "Apply for this Job" box below)./), an open-source sea-level projection framework initially developed by the lab, supported the integration of projections for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's Sixth Assessment Report.

Working in coordination with the FACTS development team at the Climate Impact Lab and with collaborators in the NASA Sea-Level Change Team, the postdoctoral associate may have the opportunity to contribute to the development of the scientific community's next generation of sea-level rise projections, following a workplan to be developed at the June 2026 AGU Chapman Conference on Updating Usable Projections of Sea-Level Rise (https://-level).

In this context, the integration into global, relative, and extreme sea-level projections of knowledge related to potential high-impact events of poorly-known likelihood, such as ice-sheet or AMOC collapse, is of particular interest, as is the integration of observational constraints. Interest in or experience with the development of emulators of complex models is also valuable.

The postdoctoral associate may also have the opportunity to work with colleagues in MACH and the Climate Impact Lab on topics such as the valuation of coastal climate risk information, the use of market mechanisms such as insurance to manage coastal climate risk, and the simulation of adaptation decision-making under deep uncertainty.

The position will be based at Rutgers-New Brunswick. The position is a grant-funded annual position. Renewal for up to three years is possible subject to performance and availability of funding.

Qualifications

* PhD in oceanography, atmospheric science, geophysics, economics, computer science, statistics, or a related discipline at time of appointment;

* Familiarity with literature relevant to sea-level projections and/or coastal climate risk;

* Strong coding skills, including experience in Python;

* Excellent organizational and communication skills.

Familiarity with high-performance computing is a plus.

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