Careers

General Summary of Position:

The University of Massachusetts Lowell invites applications for a post-doctoral research associate to support ongoing work at the Climate Change Initiative and the Rist Institute for Sustainability and Energy. The successful candidate will play a central role in developing and applying a system dynamics model to assess decarbonization pathways, integrate climate and energy resilience, and engage stakeholders in exploring energy futures for Massachusetts. They will join our cross-disciplinary research team of climate scientists, energy system modelers, system dynamics experts, urban ecologists, and community engagement specialists at UMass Lowell, the Tufts Climate Policy Lab, UMass Amherst, and Boston University.

This one-year position is available to begin Fall 2025, with potential for renewal.

Minimum Qualifications (Required):

Education:

• Ph.D. in system dynamics, data science, energy science, engineering, or a related field.

Additional Considerations:

• Experience with stakeholder-engaged and community-based research.
• Strong interest in sustainability. Experience collaborating with government agencies, NGOs, and/or community organizations on sustainability and energy transition.
• Demonstrated proficiency in programming, preferably in Python and/or R. 

Preferred Qualifications:

• Demonstrated proficiency in system dynamics modeling; strong familiarity with climate and energy policy.
• Experience in energy systems including renewable energy, power grid modeling, efficiency, sustainable technologies, and/or related fields.

Special Instructions to Applicants:

Only current UML Employees within the Grants & Contracts (MTA/GRACE) bargaining unit will be considered during the first 10 business days of the posting. All other candidates will be considered after that period.

This is a Grants & Contracts (MTA/GRACE) bargaining unit position.

Initial review of applications will begin immediately and continue until the position is filled. However, the position may close when an adequate number of qualified applications is received.   

This position is contingent upon funding. The appointment is for one-year contingent upon productivity, successful performance and the availability of funding.

Please include the required documents with your application:

• Resume
• Cover Letter
• Writing Sample (i.e., peer reviewed paper)
• Names and contact information of three references will be required during the application process.

The following application components are encouraged, but optional:

• Submission of writing sample that is for a non-technical audience

• Submission of a Sample of Scholarly Work/Publication (up to three files*) - please include any computer simulation model that you developed or contributed to, along with model documentation and a description of your contribution to its development. Model submission is especially encouraged for candidates with system dynamics modeling experience.
  • If appropriate, candidates are encouraged to provide links to any GitHub repositories of models or code you've co-authored.

*Please combine 1 to 3 files into a single Zip file (compressed folder), not to exceed 50MB in size.