Aurora

Programs and Events
 

UBC International Learning Day (ILD)

I am pleased to invite you to the 3rd annual UBC Internationalization Learning Day (ILD), on November 29th from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Please also extend this invitation to your own faculty and staff.

We welcome all UBC faculty, staff, and graduate students who are interested in the internationalization of teaching and learning to attend this exciting event. This year, the ILD will focus on how UBC is creating and supporting exceptional, globally-relevant learning experiences across the disciplines, and will examine ways in which we are adapting to our learners in a global context.

You can discover more information and register here: https://academic.ubc.ca/ILD-2017.  

I hope to see you on November 29th,

Murali Chandrashekaran
Vice-Provost, International

Environmental Innovator's Award Academic Poster Competition

The Environmental Managers Association of BC (EMA of BC) is proud to announce submissions for its Academic Poster Competition are open as part of its annual workshop on March 1st, 2018. We invite students of BC postsecondary institutions currently enrolled in an environmentally-related technology, undergraduate, graduate or legal program to submit a poster based on their original academic research for consideration of the Environmental Innovator’s Award. A total of $1500 will be awarded to students of the top three posters!

Abstract submissions due November 28th, 2017.  For more information and how to submit, please see here.

Employment Opportunities
 

Postdoctoral Researchers, University at Albany, SUNY

The Department of Environmental and Sustainable Engineering at University at Albany, SUNY seeks to recruit multiple Postdocs to work in the broad field of environmental and energy sustainability. These positions are available in early spring of 2018.

Qualifications
The candidates must have a PhD in Environmental Engineering, Biological Engineering, Biochemical Engineering, or a closely related discipline, from a college or university accredited by the U.S. Department of Education or an internationally recognized accrediting organization. The successful applicants are expected to have rich experience in fundamental and applied research related to using biochemical, bioelectrochemical, and thermochemical processes to address environmental and energy sustainability. Expertise in two or more research areas, such as aerobic and anaerobic fermentation, molecular biology, microbial electrosynthesis cells, and hydrothermal liquefaction are anticipated.  Experience with mass spectroscopy based analytical instrumentation, such as ICP-MS, LC-MS, and GC-MS is required. 

Besides technical expertise, the candidates must be self-driven, detail oriented, independent, and highly organized; enjoy working in a team environment as a leader and a member and collaborative research; possess proven publication record and excellent skills in oral communication and writing papers and proposals.

Salary and Benefits
The initial appointment is for one year but may be extended depending on satisfactory performance. Salary is based on qualifications.  Benefits, such as health insurance and retirement will be offered according to the UAlbany's policy for postdoc scholars. 

How to Apply
Applicants must provide a cover letter detailing how their background, expertise, and skills match the job description above, statement of career goals, a full CV, and names and contact information for three professional references. Applications should be submitted directly to Dr. Yanna Liang (yliang3@albany.edu). The positions will remain open until they are filled with excellent candidates.

Two Postdoctoral Researchers in Field of Physics of Natural Fluids, IGB Berlin

Within the framework of two projects funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG), IGB invites applications for two postdoctoral researchers in the field of physics of natural fluids (physical limnology). Both projects are interconnected thematically and supposed to be performed in a close partnership. One project is part of German-Chinese collaboration and addresses the first ever detailed assessment of the physical processes in the lake system of the Plateau of Tibet – one of the key regions for the global climate system. The other project is a German-Russian initiative aimed at estimation of the physical drivers of the vertical carbon flux with the particular organic matter, with study objects in western Siberia and Germany.

The positions are available immediately and limited initially to 2 years.

Please upload complete application documents as a single pdf-file including CV, a letter of motivation, copies of relevant degrees and contact details of two referees as soon as possible via the IGB’s (www.igb-berlin.de/en/jobs) online job-application facility (button “Apply online”).

Postdoctoral Position in Paleo-hydroclimatology, Lamount-Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University

The Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University invites applications for a Postdoctoral Research Scientist position in paleoclimatology with a specific focus on hydroclimate. The successful candidate will work on an NSF funded project to improve our understanding of North American hydroclimate over the past millennium. The position will be located at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory in Palisades, NY in the research group of Professor Park Williams and in close collaboration with Professors Ed Cook, Richard Seager, Jason Smerdon, and Ben Cook.

Candidates must have a PhD in physical climatology, or a closely related field, and a strong interest in hydroclimatic variability and change over timescales from seasons to millennia. Demonstrated skill in statistics, computer programming, the ability to analyze and manipulate large and disparate datasets, and familiarity with tree-ring reconstructions of precipitation and drought highly desired.

Appointment will be for 1 year, with continuation pending funding and progress.  The search will remain open for at least 30 days after the ad appears and will continue until the position is filled.

Please visit our online application site at  https://academicjobs.columbia.edu/applicants/Central?quickFind=65508

for further information about this position and to submit your curriculum vitae, a statement of research interests, and names and addresses of three referees.

Postdoctoral & Graduate Student Positions, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign

Postdoctoral research associate and graduate student positions are available in the Center for Advanced Bioenergy and Bioproducts Innovation (CABBI; https://cabbi.bio/) and the Dept. of Civil & Environmental Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) in the research group of Assistant Professor Jeremy Guest. We are seeking qualified and motivated postdoctoral researchers and graduate students to advance the sustainable design of biorefineries for the production of bioenergy and bioproducts from novel feedstocks as part of the newly established CABBI, a Bioenergy Research Center (BRC) at UIUC funded at $115 million by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE).

The successful applicants will integrate process modeling with techno-economic analysis (TEA) and life cycle assessment (LCA) under uncertainty to evaluate and prioritize research and development pathways for candidate products and processes in development by CABBI researchers and other DOE BRCs. The postdocs and students will be in Dr. Guest's research group, will be housed at the Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology (https://www.igb.illinois.edu/), and will collaborate with a strong cohort of faculty, postdocs, and graduate students in Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, Crop Sciences, Plant Biology, ACES (Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences), and other disciplines across the Feedstock Production, Conversion, and Sustainability Themes of CABBI.

The duties of the postdocs and graduate students will focus on modeling biorefinery unit operations including biological and thermochemical conversions, separations, wastewater management, and related processes. In addition to detailed sustainability evaluations of technologies under development by the CABBI and the DOE, a target outcome of the work is to develop an open access, accessible computational tool for rapid and robust TEA and LCA of candidate products and processes. Expertise in some of the following areas is desired: separations, thermochemical conversions, wastewater treatment, TEA, LCA, modeling in Aspen Plus / SuperPro Designer, or programming in Python.

Graduate student positions are available at the M.S. and Ph.D. level in Environmental Engineering at UIUC, which is consistently ranked as one of the top graduate programs in the country by U.S. News & World Report. Postdoc positions are available for multiple years; however, annual renewal is dependent on funding, progress made by the individual, and career goals of the individual (postdoc mentoring plans will be tailored to meet the individual's goals). All positions include competitive salary and benefits.

Prospective graduate students must apply by January 1, 2018 to the Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering (http://cee.illinois.edu/admissions/graduate-admissions/) for Fall 2018 admission. Prospective postdocs should email the following materials to Prof.Guest with the subject line "CABBI Postdoc": brief cover letter, curriculum vitae, names and contact information for three references, and up to two examples of scholarly output (e.g., published or submitted manuscripts). Postdoc application review will begin on December 14, 2017. Start dates for postdocs are flexible, and could range from April 1, 2018 to late Fall 2018. Any offer for postdoc positions are contingent upon successful completion of a criminal background check (http://humanresources.illinois.edu/).

More information may be found on relevant websites for the Guest Research Group (http://engineeringforsustainability.com/), CABBI (https://cabbi.bio/), and the Dept. of Civil & Environmental Engineering (http://cee.illinois.edu/), or by contacting Prof. Guest (jsguest@illinois.edu).