"Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Climate Migration and Urban Modeling"

The School for Environment and Sustainability (SEAS) at the University of Michigan is seeking applications for a postdoctoral research position to apply urban modeling and practitioner engagement approaches to study the impacts of climate migration. The successful candidate will work under the mentorship of Derek Van Berkel and Maria Carmen Lemos on an NSF project called the Climate Adaptation and Resilience Strategies (CLARS). This project seeks to develop collaborative adaptation strategies for vulnerable climate migrants and host communities across urban settings in the Lake Victoria Basin (LVB) and Great Lakes Region (GLR). It will build on existing online public participatory GIS software, and be part of GLISA, NOAA's CAP/RISA team for the Great Lakes region. GLISA works at the boundary between climate science and decision making, striving to enhance Great Lakes communities capacity to understand, plan for, and respond to climate impacts now and in the future.

Note: This position will be a one-year term limited appointment with the possibility of renewal.

Responsibilities:

• Conducting research on the impacts of climate change on human mobility, focusing on urban modeling and climate migration.
• Collaborating with multidisciplinary teams in both the LVB and GLR to develop and implement climate adaptation strategies.
• Supporting engagement with key stakeholders and community partners to create frameworks for climate migrants and build resilient communities.
• Preparing research findings for conference presentations and peer-reviewed journal articles.

Qualifications:

• PhD in data science, statistics, computer science, AI, or a related field.
• Experience building end-to-end web applications with Python (Django/FastAPI), REST APIs, relational databases, and modern front-end stacks (HTML/CSS/JS)
• Strong communication skills and the ability to work both independently and as part of a team.
• Strong qualitative and quantitative analysis background
• Experience in stakeholder engagement.
• Demonstrated success in publishing refereed journal articles.
• Interest in applying AI methods to environmental and sustainability issues.

Required Application Materials are as follows, and should be uploaded as a single attachment:

• Detailed CV
• Statement describing qualifications and interest in the position (3 pages)
• Undergraduate and graduate transcripts
• Names and contact information for three references

Application Process:

Review of applications will begin immediately and continue until the position is filled.

Questions about the position can be addressed to Dr. Van Berkel (email address available on main.hercjobs.org). If you encounter issues uploading your PDF, please contact SEAS HR <seas-hr-requests@umich.edu>.