Postdoctoral Fellowships in Climate Change, Machine Learning and Advanced Materials

The BIDMaP Postdoctoral Fellows Program is accepting fellowship applications from recent PhDs in basic science or data science fields interested in working at the interface of machine learning and the natural sciences to address planetary challenges.

The Bakar Institute of Digital Materials for the Planet (BIDMaP) is an institute in UC Berkeley’s new College of Computing, Data Science, and Society (CDSS), bringing together machine learning and data science with the natural sciences to address the planet’s most urgent challenges. BIDMaP is focused on developing new techniques in machine learning that will enhance and accelerate discovery in experimental natural sciences and development of novel materials to address planetary challenges. To this end, BIDMaP promotes collaboration between world-renowned AI/ML experts, chemists, physicists and other physical scientists. By combining cutting-edge chemistry with artificial intelligence, machine learning, and robotics, BIDMaP is reimagining how materials can be designed and optimized for clean energy, clean air, clean water, advanced batteries, and sustainable chemical production.

Eligibility

Candidates should have one of the following academic training and research profiles:

• Computing/statistics/AI/ML training, and eagerness to work with natural scientists to enable new discoveries; or
• Basic science training in chemistry, physics, biological sciences, or materials science, and eagerness to work with machine learning researchers to accelerate discovery with new computational techniques.

Fellows will be mentored by UC Berkeley faculty both in computing/statistics/AI/ML and in basic natural sciences.

The BIDMaP Postdoctoral Fellows Fellowship is designed to attract exceptional early-career scientists, with a doctoral degree awarded roughly between June, 2022 and July, 2026.

Diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging are core values at UC Berkeley. Successful candidates for our academic positions should demonstrate evidence of a commitment to advancing diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging.

Timeline

Applications will open October 1. The first round of applications will be reviewed starting Nov 16, so candidates should apply by November 15. Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis after this date until January 15, 2026.

Appointments will begin in Spring, Summer, or Fall 2026, depending on accepted fellows’ preferred start dates.

Appointment Terms

BIDMaP Fellows will be appointed for two years, renewable for a third year upon mutual agreement.

Application

Candidates: Apply here. Statement of research (typically ~2–5 pages), outlining prior research and future goals. Optional: Address particular interest in BIDMaP’s scientific and societal goals. Curriculum vitae. Three letters of recommendation are required for an application to be considered complete. Candidates are responsible for asking references to submit letters directly, as detailed below.

References: Please provide a letter of recommendation, addressing the candidate's qualifications and potential to advance BIDMaP’s scientific objectives. Letters should be submitted directly from each recommender in the application portal. Letters of recommendation should be submitted on institutional letterhead and include the following information: candidate's title and institution, and recommender’s title and institution. Applications will not be reviewed until all letters of recommendation are received.