"Research Specialist"

Job Details

Department: Earth Marine Environmt Sci - 318000

Career Area: Research Professionals

Posting Open Date: 09/17/2025

Application Deadline: 09/22/2025

Position Type: Temporary Staff (SHRA)

Position Title: Research Specialist

Position Number: 20073061

Vacancy ID: S026142

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

Hours per week: 10

Work Schedule: Monday – Friday, between 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM

Position Location: North Carolina, US

Hiring Range: $18.00/per hour

Proposed Start Date: 10/06/2025

Estimated Duration of Appointment: 6 months not to exceed 11 months

Be a Tar Heel!: A global higher education leader in innovative teaching, research and public service, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill consistently ranks as one of the nation’s top public universities.

Primary Purpose of Organizational Unit: The Department of Earth, Marine and Environmental Sciences (EMES) and the Institute of Marine Sciences at UNC-CH advances understanding of the earth and ocean processes that govern our planet, shape diverse ecosystems, sustain life, and drive environmental change.

Position Summary: This position will focus on developing and conducting controlled laboratory experiments to investigate ice-ocean interactions, including turbulent heat, salt, and momentum exchange at ice boundaries. The Research Specialist will design and implement experiments in the Joint Fluids Lab wave tank facility, analyze resulting data, and work closely with modelers to connect experimental insights to numerical simulations and field observations.

Minimum Education and Experience Requirements: Bachelor’s degree in a discipline related to the area of assignment; or equivalent combination of training and experience. All degrees must be received from appropriately accredited institutions.

Required Qualifications, Competencies, and Experience: Experience designing and conducting laboratory experiments in fluid dynamics, ideally with stratified flows. Familiarity with experimental methods for studying turbulence, boundary layers, or heat/salt transfer. Strong quantitative and analytical skills for processing and interpreting experimental data.

Preferred Qualifications, Competencies, and Experience: Experience with laboratory facilities such as wave tanks or rotating tables. Familiarity with advanced flow measurement and visualization techniques (e.g., Particle Image Velocimetry, Laser-Induced Fluorescence, salinity/temperature microstructure probes). Ability to integrate laboratory results with numerical models and experience/interest in running numerical fluid dynamics models.