Postdoc in Computational Hydrology & ML

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory; Richland (WA); Hybrid; USD 69,000 - 119,000; Full time

Job summary

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) is seeking a researcher to advance subsurface flow and transport modeling, hydrogeology, and machine learning for environmental systems. The role emphasizes integrating observations with simulations and contributing to decision-support for environmental remediation.

The successful candidate will collaborate across disciplines and publish findings, with onsite presence at Richland preferred though virtual work is possible.

Qualifications

• PhD within the past five years (60 months) or within the next 8 months from an accredited college or university.

Responsibilities

• Conduct research in subsurface flow and transport modeling, hydrogeology, and machine learning for environmental systems.
• Develop and apply computational approaches for groundwater flow, multiphase transport, and reactive transport in porous and fractured media.
• Integrate model-generated and observational data to support calibration, inversion, uncertainty quantification, and predictive analysis for subsurface systems.
• Contribute to the development of reduced-order, surrogate, and physics-informed machine learning methods for environmental and geoscience applications.
• Support research relevant to environmental remediation, including subsurface characterization, contaminant fate and transport, monitoring interpretation, and optimization-informed decision support.
• Collaborate with interdisciplinary researchers across subsurface science, computational science, geoscience, and environmental management.
• Publish results in peer-reviewed journals and present findings in technical meetings and conferences.

Skills

Machine learning

Uncertainty quantification

Data assimilation

Inversion modeling

Physics-informed ML

AI for scientific workflows

Education

PhD in Environmental Science/Geoscience/Computational Hydrology

Tools

PFLOTRAN

STOMP

MODFLOW

MT3D

Job description

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) is seeking a researcher to advance subsurface flow and transport modeling, hydrogeology, and machine learning for environmental systems. The role emphasizes integrating observations with simulations and contributing to decision-support for environmental remediation.

The successful candidate will collaborate across disciplines and publish findings, with onsite presence at Richland preferred though virtual work is possible.