PhD position on wave climate

[Justin Stopa]

Dear coastal-list members,

See below the PhD position announcement.

Justin Stopa

PhD Position in Satellite Oceanography and Extreme Wave Climate
University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa – Ocean & Resources Engineering

School: Department of Ocean and Resources Engineering (ORE) within The School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST) within The University of Hawai`i at Mānoa

Location: Honolulu, HI

Employer: UH Manoa

Salary: $36,878/year with tuition waiver and health benefits; support guaranteed for 3 years.

Project description:

We seek a highly motivated PhD student with strong coding skills and a background in oceanography, atmospheric science, or climate dynamics to join a NASA-funded project investigating the global extreme wave climate using more than 30 years of satellite altimetry. The project addresses a central climate challenge: separating measurement noise, satellite sampling biases, interannual variability (e.g., ENSO, SAM, NAO), and long-term trends in the historical significant wave height (Hs) record. The student will integrate multi-mission altimetry datasets, wave hindcasts such as WAVEWATCH III, reanalysis products, buoy observations, and storm-track archives to quantify how extreme waves are changing over the past several decades. Strong programming experience (Python and/or MATLAB; netCDF; using geophysical datasets; modeling or HPC) is essential.

Please submit CV, transcripts, and a letter of motivation to Justin Stopa by email:

st...@hawaii.edu

before March 16. Pre-selected candidates will be interviewed before April 1, 2026.  The target start date is August 2026.