Temporary Researcher
 University of Colorado | |
sick time
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 United States, Colorado, Boulder | |
 Nov 10, 2026 | |
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Requisition Number: 76022 Location: Boulder, Colorado City Boulder State Colorado Employment Type: Research Faculty Schedule: Part-Time Posting Close Date: 12-Nov-2026 Date Posted: 10-Nov-2026 Close All
Job Summary The LAIR Group, part of CU Boulder's Aerospace Engineering Sciences Department, is seeking for a researcher to analyze a new mission-scale catalog of whistler-mode plasma waves from NASA's Van Allen Probes. The catalog was built in a recent dissertation. It uses a YOLO-based computer-vision model that was run on about 2.6 million EMFISIS burst-mode spectrograms and found about 1.3 million detections of chorus, plasmaspheric hiss, and lightning-generated whistlers. Each detection comes with wave normal angle, power spectral density, normalized frequency (f/f_ce), electron density, geomagnetic activity, and plasmapause-relative position. The first results show that hiss is not one uniform population. It appears to have separate regimes, including a higher-frequency component near dayside boundaries, and chorus-like emissions inside the plasmasphere appear tied to storm-time restructuring. CU is an Equal Opportunity Employer and complies with all applicable federal, state, and local laws governing nondiscrimination in employment. We are committed to creating a workplace where all individuals are treated with respect and dignity, and we encourage individuals from all backgrounds to apply, including protected veterans and individuals with disabilities. Who We Are The Lightning, Atmosphere, Ionosphere, and Radiation Belt research group (The LAIR) is part of the Aerospace Engineering Sciences (AES) department at the University of Colorado Boulder. Most of our research studies lightning and thunderstorms and their electromagnetic effects on the ionosphere, magnetosphere, and radiation belts - what we call the "near-Earth space environment". We also work on a variety of other projects, the common theme of which is the application and study of space plasma physics. What Your Key Responsibilities Will Be The hire will build on this catalog to study where plasmaspheric hiss comes from and how it evolves. Likely directions include linking the wave populations to radiation belt electron dynamics (phase space density, pitch-angle distributions, injections), choosing and analyzing targeted case studies with ray tracing, trying clustering or continuum-based classification in place of fixed class labels, and possibly extending the approach to other missions such as Arase. What You Should Know Visa sponsorship is not available for this position. What We Can Offer The hire rate for this part-time position will be $30.00-$40.00 per hour. Appointment will begin immediately after a successful background check. Benefits Temporary positions at the University of Colorado are not benefits-eligible, however, all positions are eligible for paid sick leave. Be Statements Be resourceful. Be game-changing. Be Boulder. What We Require PhD in a STEM field. What We Would Like You to Have Strong candidates will have a background in space physics or a related field, experience analyzing large scientific datasets in Python, and familiarity with plasma wave or radiation belt physics. Experience with machine learning is a plus but not required. Special Instructions To apply, please submit the following materials:
During the application process, you will be asked for the name and email address of one professional reference who would be willing to provide a letter of recommendation on your behalf. For final candidates, we will request this letter directly from your reference later in the search process. You do not need to provide a letter at the time of application. Please apply by November 12, 2026 for consideration. Note: Application materials will not be accepted via email. For consideration, applications must be submitted through CU Boulder Jobs. | |