Postdoctoral Positions at University of California, Davis - Managed Aquifer Recharge & Geophysics

[Chinyi Lydia Kao]

Dear Colleagues,

There are three open Postdoctoral positions at the University of California, Davis:

1 Position - Managed Aquifer Recharge

Drs. Scott Bradford (Research Leader of the USDA, ARS, Sustainable Agricultural Water Systems Unit) and Helen Dahlke (Associate Professor in the Department of Land, Air, and Water Resources at the University of California, Davis) seek to hire a postdoc with a background in Soil Physics, Hydrology, Civil or Environmental Engineering to work on Managed Aquifer Recharge in the Central Valley, CA. The goal of this research is to evaluate the independent and joint use of flooding of agricultural lands and drywells to optimize stormwater capture, groundwater recharge, and water quality. This research will involve field studies, laboratory analysis, and vadose zone modeling of flow and transport. Experience in these areas as well as the use of vadose zone models such as HYDRUS or iTOUGH is highly desirable. The selected candidate will be hired through the University of California in Davis (UC Davis), but will work at the USDA facility. Details about salary and benefits for UC Davis postdocs is given at https://www.ucop.edu/academic-personnel-programs/_files/2021/2021-postdoc-salary-scales/t23.pdf and https://hr.ucdavis.edu/employees/benefits/post-doc-scholars, respectively.

Interested candidates should email their resumes to Scott.B...@usda.gov and hda...@ucdavis.edu. Resumes will be accepted until the position has been filled. 

2 Positions - Geophysics

The Department of Land, Air and Water Resources at the University of California, Davis seeks to hire two postdocs in conjunction with the Sustainable Agricultural Water Systems (SAWS) Unit of the Agricultural Research Service at the US Department of Agriculture. The hired postdocs will focus on problems related to assessing and monitoring flood-managed aquifer recharge sites in California’s Central Valley, with potential to expand into other related areas using geophysics for groundwater management. The postdocs will work as part of an interdisciplinary team of scientists at UC Davis and the SAWS unit, including geophysicists, hydrogeologists, soil physicists, and agricultural scientists.

The first postdoc will focus on targeting subsurface sampling strategies based on geophysical data to characterize subsurface heterogeneity. Ground-truth data is essential to quantitatively interpreting geophysical models and our goal is to develop and optimize sampling strategies. The postdoc will employ ground-based electrical resistivity models (e.g. time-domain EM and electrical resistivity tomography) in a geostatistical framework to select sites for subsurface sampling using methods (e.g. soil-core extraction, cone penetrometer testing and geophysical logging methods) and to target infiltration experiments. We seek an individual with a strong background in geostatistics, some experience with field data acquisition, and training in either soil physics or near-surface geophysics. Any experience linking geophysical and hydrogeological parameters is a plus.

The second postdoc will direct their research toward linking geophysical and hydrogeological measurements in order to parameterize 3D groundwater models with the goal of characterizing flow and transport processes within the unsaturated zone. This encompasses the development of rock physics transforms to translate geophysical parameters to hydrogeological parameters as well as joint geophysical and hydrogeological inversion. Quantification of uncertainty due to inversion and the links between geophysical and hydrogeological parameters will be an important component of the postdoc’s efforts. We are particularly interested in candidates with strong computational backgrounds and with experience in time-domain EM and electrical resistivity tomography geophysics.

Details about salary and benefits for UC Davis postdocs is given at https://www.ucop.edu/academic-personnel-programs/_files/2021/2021-postdoc-salary-scales/t23.pdf and https://hr.ucdavis.edu/employees/benefits/post-doc-scholars, respectively. Interested candidates should email their resumes to Scott.B...@usda.gov and hda...@ucdavis.edu. Resumes will be accepted until the positions have been filled. 

Best regards,

Lydia