Fellow (Post Doc)

Montgomery County Maryland; Manhattan (KS); On-site; USD 48,000 - 55,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Sponsorship eligibility

Job summary

Kansas State University invites applications for a postdoctoral position in the Digital Agronomy Research Team (DART) within the Department of Agronomy. The role focuses on precision agriculture, water management, and geospatial modeling using field data, satellite and UAV remote sensing, and climate data to advance evapotranspiration and water-use efficiency analyses.

The candidate will develop reproducible workflows in Python/R/GEE, contribute to peer‑reviewed manuscripts, and participate in

Qualifications

• Ph.D. in agronomy, agricultural engineering, hydrology, water resources engineering, environmental engineering, soil and water science, remote sensing, or closely related discipline.
• Demonstrated research experience in evapotranspiration, irrigation, ecohydrology, remote sensing, or agroecosystem modeling.
• Experience with quantitative analysis of environmental, hydrologic, geospatial, or remote-sensing data.
• Demonstrated experience with scientific programming, statistical analysis, geospatial analysis, or computational modeling.
• Evidence of research productivity through peer-reviewed publications or other scholarly products.
• Demonstrated ability to communicate scientific information effectively through writing and presentations.

Responsibilities

• Conduct independent and collaborative research in precision agriculture, water management, remote sensing, and agroecosystem modeling.
• Develop approaches for quantifying evapotranspiration, crop water use, and water use efficiency.
• Integrate field observations with satellite, UAV, weather, and geospatial datasets.
• Develop reproducible workflows using Python, R, Google Earth Engine, and GIS tools.
• Lead or contribute to peer‑reviewed manuscripts, presentations, reports, and datasets.
• Support coordination of multi‑investigator, externally funded projects.
• Coordinate datasets, timelines, milestones, and deliverables across teams.

Skills

Quantitative data analysis

Geospatial analysis

Remote sensing

Scientific programming

Manuscripts & presentations

Collaborative research

Education

Ph.D. in a relevant field (agronomy, engineering, remote sensing, or closely related)

Demonstrated research experience in agricultural water management or related fields

Experience with quantitative analysis of environmental data

Demonstrated experience with scientific programming or computational modeling

Evidence of peer-reviewed publications

Excellent written and oral communication skills

Tools

Python

R

Google Earth Engine

GIS

QGIS

ArcGIS

MATLAB

Job description

About This Role

This postdoctoral position will support interdisciplinary research in precision agriculture, agricultural water management, remote sensing, and agroecosystem modeling within the Digital Agronomy Research Team (DART) at Kansas State University. The position will contribute to research and outreach aimed at improving the understanding, monitoring, and prediction of crop water use, evapotranspiration, crop water stress, and water use efficiency across field to regional scales. Research will involve integration of field-based measurements with satellite (optical and radar) and UAV remote sensing, weather and climate information, soil moisture and crop observations, and other geospatial and environmental datasets. Responsibilities will include:

• Conduct independent and collaborative research in precision agriculture, agricultural water management, remote sensing, and agroecosystem modeling.
• Develop and apply approaches for quantifying and predicting evapotranspiration, crop water use, crop water stress, water use efficiency, and related soil-plant-atmosphere processes.
• Integrate field observations, weather and climate data, soil moisture and crop measurements, satellite and UAV remote sensing, and other geospatial datasets using process-based, statistical, and data-driven modeling approaches.
• Develop reproducible workflows using Python, R, Google Earth Engine, GIS, and related computational tools.
  Participate in field research, sensor deployment, data collection, quality assurance/quality control, and evaluation of research datasets.
• Independently analyze and interpret research results and lead or contribute to peer-reviewed manuscripts, conference presentations, technical reports, datasets, and other scholarly products.
• Support the scientific coordination and implementation of externally funded, multidisciplinary research projects.
• Coordinate research activities, datasets, timelines, milestones, and technical deliverables among faculty, research staff, students, collaborating investigators, producers, and other project partners.
• Assist the principal investigator with preparation of progress reports, annual reports, technical deliverables, presentations, and other sponsor-required materials.
• Contribute to undergraduate and graduate teaching and research training in precision agriculture, agricultural water management, remote sensing, geospatial analysis, and environmental data science.
• Develop and deliver selected guest lectures, laboratory exercises, demonstrations, tutorials, and hands‑on learning activities.
• Participate in field days, producer meetings, workshops, demonstrations, project meetings, and other stakeholder-oriented programs.

About Us

The Department of Agronomy, together with the Research and Extension Centers, provides statewide leadership for teaching, research, and extension activities in plant breeding, crop production, range science, soil science, and weed sciences and contributes substantially to activities in genetics, water science, and environmental sciences. More information can be found, https://www.agronomy.k-state.edu/.

Worksite Description

This position is On-site.

All employees must reside in the United States when they begin working to comply with state law. K-State is unable to provide remote or hybrid work opportunities for residents of the state of Idaho.

What You'll Need to Succeed

Minimum Qualifications:

• Ph.D. in agronomy, agricultural engineering, hydrology, water resources engineering, environmental engineering, soil and water science, remote sensing, or a closely related discipline. The degree requirement is necessary to ensure candidates possess the specialized knowledge, skills and abilities that can only be attained through a formal educational program at this level.
• Demonstrated research experience in one or more areas related to agricultural water management, evapotranspiration, irrigation, ecohydrology, remote sensing, precision agriculture, or agroecosystem modeling.
• Experience with quantitative analysis of agricultural, environmental, hydrologic, geospatial, or remote-sensing data.
• Demonstrated experience with scientific programming, statistical analysis, geospatial analysis, or computational modeling.
• Evidence of research productivity through peer-reviewed publications and/or other scholarly products.
• Demonstrated ability to communicate scientific information effectively through technical writing and oral presentations.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Research experience in evapotranspiration, crop water use, water use efficiency, crop water stress, and soil-plant-atmosphere interactions.
• Experience integrating field observations with satellite, UAV, proximal sensing, weather, soil moisture, or other environmental datasets.
• Experience with Python, R, MATLAB, Google Earth Engine, QGIS, ArcGIS, or similar programming and geospatial platforms.
• Experience with process-based crop, ecohydrological, land-surface, SVAT, hydrologic, or data-driven/machine-learning models.
• Experience with micrometeorological measurements, eddy covariance, thermal remote sensing, environmental sensing, or field-based crop and water measurements.
• Demonstrated ability to independently develop scientific analyses, interpret complex datasets, and prepare peer-reviewed manuscripts.
• Strong organizational skills and demonstrated ability to work across multiple research activities, timelines, and project deliverables.
• Ability to work independently as well as collaboratively within multidisciplinary and multi-institutional research teams.
• Valid driver's license.
• Drone pilot license.

Sponsorship eligibility:

This position is eligible for sponsorship

Application Window

Applications close on: September 21, 2026

Anticipated Hiring Pay Range

$47,500 - $55,000