"Post-Doc Research Associate"

Job Details

Department: Physics and Astronomy - 319000

Posting Open Date: 08/01/2025

Open Until Filled: No

Position Type: Postdoctoral Scholar

Position Title: Post-Doc Research Associate

Vacancy ID: PDS004584

Full-time/Part-time: Full-Time Temporary

Hours per week: 40

FTE: 1

Work Location: Chapel Hill, NC

Position Location: North Carolina, US

Estimated Duration of Appointment: 12 Months

Position Summary:

Research in gravitational physics on extreme-mass-ratio inspirals and sources of gravitational radiation relevant to the LISA space mission. Research effort involves use of black hole perturbation and self-force theory, and post-Newtonian theory, to construct gravitational waveforms from binary inspiral calculations. Some work will be done in cooperation with the international FEW waveform-development collaboration. Position is nominally for two years, but renewal for a second year is subject to the availability of adequate funding and sufficient progress.

Minimum Education and Experience Requirements:

PhD in physics required. Previous postdoctoral research associate experience highly preferred.

Required Qualifications, Competencies, and Experience:

Experience conducting scientific research, as evidenced by peer-reviewed publications, is required. Experience should include research in general relativity, or alternative theories of gravity, and in gravitational waves.

Preferred Qualifications, Competencies, and Experience:

Preferred experience includes using gravitational waves or other observables to test general relativity or alternative theories of gravity; interest in modeling black hole binary inspiral and gravitational waveforms; collaborative experience and interest in working with LISA space mission associated theory groups and past research experience that would expand capabilities of waveform models. Other preferred technical experience includes programming skills in Python and Mathematica, use of linux, git, and latex.