Job Description

APPLICATION INSTRUCTIONS:

• CURRENT PENN STATE EMPLOYEE (faculty, staff, technical service, or student), please login to Workday to complete the internal application process Please do not apply here, apply internally through Workday.

• CURRENT PENN STATE STUDENT (not employed previously at the university) and seeking employment with Penn State, please login to Workday to complete the student application process. Please do not apply here, apply internally through Workday.

• If you are NOT a current employee or student, please click “Apply” and complete the application process for external applicants

Approval of remote and hybrid work is not guaranteed regardless of work location. For additional information on remote work at Penn State, see Notice to Out of State Applicants

This is a term position; length of the term will be discussed during the interview process. Continuation past the term length discussed will be based on university need, performance, and/or availability of funding.

POSITION SPECIFICS

The Department of Meteorology and Atmospheric Sciences at Penn State University invites applications for a full-time Postdoctoral Scholar to support the NSF-funded project "Transitioning UXarray to a Sustainable Open Source Ecosystem" (NSF POSE). This is a 12-month appointment at 100% effort, with the possibility of renewal contingent on satisfactory performance and continued funding.

The successful candidate will work under the supervision of Prof. Colin Zarzycki and collaborate closely with partners at the NSF National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR). The postdoc will play a central role in both the scientific application and open-source software development of UXarray, a Python package that extends Xarray to provide native support for horizontally unstructured computational meshes used in next-generation Earth System Models (ESMs).

In addition to UXarray-focused responsibilities, the postdoc will contribute to active research in global atmospheric modeling and weather and climate extremes. This includes participating in tasks aligned with ongoing collaborations focused on high-resolution Earth system modeling and the characterization of extreme weather events. This makes the position well-suited for a candidate seeking to combine expertise in scientific software development with original research in Earth system science.

Key Responsibilities:

Software Development & Technical Contributions

• Contribute to the continued development and maintenance of UXarray, including analysis operators, grid subsetting, remapping, and plotting capabilities for unstructured mesh data.
• Help develop and maintain contributor guides and onboarding documentation to lower the barrier for external contributors.
• Support code review processes via GitHub Pull Requests following open development principles.
• Represent the UXarray project at major scientific conferences and workshops, including AGU and AMS annual meetings.
• Assist in the delivery of training workshops at universities and research centers.

Scientific Application & Validation

• Apply UXarray to real-world Earth science analysis workflows using outputs from high-resolution atmospheric, oceanic, and land surface models.
• Develop and publish Pythia Cookbooks and Jupyter-based tutorials showcasing UXarray capabilities across scientific domains (climate, weather, hydrology, ocean).
• Contribute to peer-reviewed publications and conference presentations (e.g., AGU, AMS, EGU).

The postdoc will also contribute to original research in global atmospheric modeling and weather and climate extremes, leveraging UXarray to do so. Specific activities may include:

• Conducting and analyzing global and regionally refined simulations using E3SM (including regionally refined mesh and convection-permitting configurations such as SCREAM), with a focus on high-impact weather systems including tropical cyclones, atmospheric rivers, and extratropical cyclones.
• Using Betacast to initialize E3SM for hindcast experiments targeting specific extreme weather events, supporting both process-level understanding and model evaluation.
• Contributing to the evaluation of AI/ML-based Earth system emulators (e.g., ACE-E3SM, FourCastNet, NeuralGCM) against physics-based benchmarks, using process-oriented diagnostics.

This research is carried out in collaboration with multi-institutional partners and is directly relevant to efforts to understand how large-scale atmospheric variability and extreme events propagate through coupled Earth system and human systems. The postdoc is expected to leverage UXarray in their own modeling workflows, deepening their expertise and contributing practical test cases back to the UXarray project.

Required Qualifications:

• Ph.D. in atmospheric science, oceanography, Earth science, or a closely related Earth or computational science field, conferred prior to the start date.
• Demonstrated experience with scientific Python programming (e.g., NumPy, Xarray, Matplotlib, Pandas, Dask).
• Experience with version control (e.g., Git/GitHub) and collaborative software development workflows.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to produce clear documentation and present scientific results.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Familiarity with unstructured grid data and/or numerical modeling output from weather and climate models.
• Prior contributions to open-source scientific software projects.
• Familiarity with DevOps/GitOps practices including CI/CD pipelines, automated testing, and containerization.
• Experience developing tutorials, training materials, or teaching workshops.
• Interest in open science principles and community-driven software development.
• Experience running and analyzing output from global or regional atmospheric models, particularly E3SM, CESM, WRF, or SCREAM.

Applicants should submit (1) a current curriculum vitae, (2) a detailed statement of research interests and experiences relevant to the required qualifications, and (3) a list of three professional references’ names and contact information. The review of applications will start immediately and continue until the position is filled. This position is funded for one year from the date of hire, with the possibility of renewal based on funding availability and satisfactory performance. The expected start date is September 15, 2026.

Contact

Please contact Dr. Colin Zarzycki, ( cmz5202@psu.edu) with any questions regarding this position.

BACKGROUND CHECKS/CLEARANCES

Employment with the University will require successful completion of background check(s) in accordance with University policies.

BENEFITS

Penn State provides a competitive benefits package for full-time employees designed to support both personal and professional well-being.

For more detailed information, please visit our Benefits Page. (Note: For Postdoctoral benefits, please see our Postdoctoral Benefits page.)

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