Postdoctoral Researcher – Coastal Ecosystem Modeling

About the role

We are seeking a highly motivated postdoctoral researcher to advance numerical modeling of marsh and mangrove ecosystems. The work will support coastal resilience research by evaluating ecosystem design performance under sea‑level rise, subsidence, and sediment dynamics.

Key responsibilities

• Develop and enhance numerical modeling frameworks (NUMAR, NUMAN, FORMAN) to assess ecosystem stability and restoration performance (40%).
• Integrate ecosystem, geomorphic, and hydrodynamic models across scales to evaluate restoration alternatives such as marsh construction and river diversions (25%).
• Expand model capabilities by adding mangrove forest structure, root dynamics, and coupling with storm‑surge and wave models (ADCIRC, XBeach) (20%).
• Prepare peer‑reviewed publications, write competitive proposals, and contribute to interdisciplinary project management (10%).
• Perform other duties as assigned (5%).

Required profile

• Ph.D. in Coastal Engineering, Environmental Engineering, Ecology, Oceanography, Earth Sciences, Civil Engineering, Hydrology, or a related field.
• Experience with numerical modeling of ecological, hydrodynamic, geomorphic, or coastal systems.
• Demonstrated ability in model development, calibration, and validation.

Required skills

• NUMAR
• NUMAN
• FORMAN
• ADCIRC
• XBeach

What we offer

• Opportunity to work within a leading coastal research group at LSU.
• Access to state‑of‑the‑art computational resources and interdisciplinary collaborations.
• Support for publishing and securing research funding.