Post-Doc Research Associate

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 and is among is the top ten research universities in the nation for federal research expenditures as well as for federally funded social and behavioral sciences research and development.

Here at Carolina, our highly skilled postdocs play a vital role in our research enterprise and towards our overall commitment to research excellence. Across many disciplines, postdocs contribute to the intellectual vitality of the University. They provide innovative ideas and perspectives, foster a stimulating research environment and advance knowledge within their fields. Postdocs are crucial members of our scientific research workforce, contributors to our research outputs and an important reason why Carolina is one of the leading public research institutions in the country.

UNC-Chapel Hill offers postdocs comprehensive medical and vision coverage, paid leave, and benefits and services that support professional development and a healthy work/life balance. Chapel Hill regularly ranks as one of the best college towns and best places to live in the United States, a reputation guided by the diverse social, cultural, recreation and professional opportunities that span the campus and community.

Our primary mission is providing instruction of the highest quality in physics and astronomy to undergraduate and graduate students at UNC-CH. Training in physics is fundamental among the natural sciences because it provides understanding of the forces governing the structure of matter, from subatomic particles to the large-scale structure of the universe. Our departmental instructional mission spans all segments of the student community. Over 60% of all college graduates from UNC-CH have taken a course in our department. Among them: undergraduate liberal arts majors who should master the power of quantitative reasoning; undergraduates seeking a degree in another of the natural sciences, who need physics as a foundation for their advanced scientific training; the small number of undergraduates who major in physics, to whom we provide broad and rigorous training. Our graduate education and research advances frontiers of knowledge at the two extremes of space and time, from the very small) the realm of particle physics) to the very large (the realm of astronomy, while expanding the boundaries of knowledge in the many subfields spanning length scales between. Forefront physics and astronomy research requires access to well-equipped laboratories and extensive computing capabilities; it also must be supported by comprehensive and accessible library collections. Again, in research at this advanced level, the bridging aspect of physics provides basic interdisciplinary insight for many other sciences.
A strong managerial, administrative, and technical staff supports this instructional mission. Duties of these employees range from budget planning and management for the numerous research grants held by faculty in the department to maintaining course and student records. These activities are usually accomplished in a standard 40- hour week schedule.

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill invites applications for a Postdoctoral Research Associate position in astronomical data pipeline development supporting the upcoming Argus Array, with a focus on optimizing image coaddition for faint sources and structure. Argus is a massively multiplexed array of 900 small-aperture telescopes, able to cover a combined 8,000 square degrees of sky with 55 gigapixels of low-noise CMOS detectors. This enormous field of view allows the Array to achieve cadences as fast as one second across the entire sky, while also conducting a deep survey by combining 6-10 hours of observations each night to reach g~23.6 on weekly timescales. Argus will create an all-sky dataset that will be valuable for studying ultra-faint galaxies, contributing to our understanding of galaxy formation and dark matter halos across nearly 30,000 square degrees of sky.

This role will work as part of a collaborative and multidisciplinary team to develop software for data analysis, monitoring, and science verification of the Array. Depending on the science interests and background of the applicant, these projects could include developing and validating statistical approaches to combining tens of thousands of images, forward modelling of astrophysical backgrounds, galaxy population studies, and/or other areas.

A negotiable fraction of this role is reserved for independent research, and extensive opportunities for collaboration-building within the Argus Science Team and department, as well as access to departmental observing facilities. UNC Chapel Hill is the founding member of the SOAR project and has 61 nights guaranteed annually on the highly subscribed telescope atop Cerro Pachon, Chile. SOAR is equipped with high-speed queue-based spectroscopic capabilities and resides within 2 km of the Rubin Observatory. UNC is also the lead institution for the Argus Array, the SkyNet rapid-response array located on four continents, and the Evryscope all-sky survey; our labs built SOAR's Goodman high-throughput spectrograph. Our department has graduate students, postdocs and faculty working in time-domain astronomy; general observational astronomy; exoplanets and stars; experimental

astrophysics; computational astrophysics and gravity; high-energy and cosmology theory; and neutrino and nuclear astrophysics. UNC Chapel Hill has significant high-performance computing resources, including the 17,000-core Longleaf cluster optimized for I/O intensive workloads with dedicated GPU and large-memory partitions. The Research Triangle area is a dynamic collaborative environment with UNC-Chapel Hill, Duke University, and North Carolina State University all located within close proximity.

PhD in Physics, Astronomy, or a related field

PhD in Physics, Astronomy, or a related field completed before the start date of the position

Demonstrated experience with astronomical data analysis and software development

Proficiency in Python programming

Experience with large-scale data processing and analysis

Experience with implementation of coaddition algorithms and high-performance computing

Experience with large software projects, including proficiency across the software development lifecycle in Python (version control, documentation, and testing)

Research experience with astronomical data analysis and large-scale astronomical survey datasets, including science interest in high-redshift transients, galaxy evolution, galactic archaeology, or cosmological evolution.

Ability to sustain nighttime validations testing and monitoring (as part of a rota of qualified support personnel).

For information on UNC Postdoctoral Benefits and Services click here

If you experience any problems accessing the system or have questions about the application process, please contact the University's Office of Postdoctoral Affairs at (919) 962-9982 or send an email to opahr@unc.edu.

Please note: The Office of Postdoctoral Affairs will not be able to provide specific updates regarding position or application status.

The University is an equal opportunity employer and welcomes all to apply without regard to age, color, gender, gender expression, gender identity, genetic information, national origin, race, religion, sex, or sexual orientation. We encourage all qualified applicants to apply, including protected veterans and individuals with disabilities.