This position is part of the National Institute of Standards (NIST) Professional Research Experience (PREP) program. NIST recognizes that its research staff may wish to collaborate with researchers at academic institutions on specific projects of mutual interest, thus requires that such institutions must be the recipient of a PREP award. The PREP program requires staff from a wide range of backgrounds to work on scientific research in many areas. Employees in this position will perform technical work that underpins the scientific research of the collaboration.
Research Title:
Senior Research Fellow in Wildland and WUI fire modeling
The work will entail:
The Wildland-Urban Interface Fire Group of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is seeking a motivated and talented senior researcher to support computational modeling efforts. This role will be focused on advancing the modeling of wildland fire dynamics and smoke transport, with a particular focus on prescribed fire and the wildland-urban interface. This position offers an exciting opportunity to contribute to cutting-edge research that will support the development of robust numerical models with the aim of improving the planning and implementation of prescribed fire.
Key responsibilities will include but are not limited to:
- Process and analyze geospatial field data to validate and refine numerical models, ensuring their accuracy and reliability,
- Design and execute numerical simulations using both detailed physical and semi-empirical model formulations, with a focus on reproducing observed fire behavior and smoke dynamics in prescribed fire and WUI-relevant settings,
- Perform quantitative analysis (e.g., parametric studies, sensitivity analyses, uncertainty quantification) to evaluate model performance and identify key physical processes,
- Work closely with an interdisciplinary team of scientists, engineers, and external partners to understand the required model capabilities to meet stakeholder objectives.
Qualifications
- A PhD or equivalent experience in Atmospheric Science, Fire Science, Mechanical Engineering, Environmental Engineering, Computer Science, or a related field. Experience with topics related to wildland fire or fire science is preferred.
- 10+ years of relevant experience.
- Experience with large scale scientific computing (eg. CFD) on HPC systems.
- Familiarity with Fire Dynamics Simulator (FDS), GIS, Fortran, Python.
- Strong oral and written communication skills.
The university is an Equal Employment Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer that does not unlawfully discriminate in any of its programs or activities on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or on any other basis prohibited by applicable law.