Postdoc: Vertebrate Morphology, Evolution & Biomechanics

Rutgers University; New Brunswick (NJ); Hybride; USD 58 000 - 70 000; Plein temps

Résumé du poste

Rutgers University–New Brunswick is seeking a highly motivated Post Doctoral Associate in Ecology, Evolution & Natural Resources to explore vertebrate functional morphology and evolution, with a focus on secondarily aquatic transformations in amniotes and their terrestrial ancestors from a postcranial perspective. The position is initially 2 years with possible extension based on performance and funding.

Responsibilities include comparative morphology, ML-based shape analysis, phylogenetic

Qualifications

• Ph.D. in Evolutionary Biology, Earth Sciences, Anatomy and Physiology or related paleontological field.
• Strong background in computational methods for morphology and evolution.
• Experience with phylogenetic comparative methods and quantitative analyses.

Responsabilités

• Comparative Morphology and Machine Learning: Apply shape-correspondence and machine-learning approaches, including spectral/graph-based surface alignment and autoencoder-based shape extraction, to compare limb and joint morphology across independent origins of aquatic locomotion.
• Phylogenetic and Evolutionary Analysis: Use phylogenetic comparative methods to test whether limb reduction in aquatic lineages follows a constrained developmental sequence and to model the evolution of body size using bounded evolutionary models.
• Biomechanical and Hydrodynamic Modeling: Apply computational fluid dynamics to test hydrodynamic hypotheses related to limb loss, limb retention, and body shape, including effects on vortex shedding and lift generation.

Connaissances

Computational Fluid Dynamics

Geometric Morphometrics

3D Shape Analysis

Kinematics

Formation

Ph.D. in Evolutionary Biology, Earth Sciences, Anatomy and Physiology

Description du poste

Rutgers University–New Brunswick is seeking a highly motivated Post Doctoral Associate in Ecology, Evolution & Natural Resources to explore vertebrate functional morphology and evolution, with a focus on secondarily aquatic transformations in amniotes and their terrestrial ancestors from a postcranial perspective. The position is initially 2 years with possible extension based on performance and funding.

Responsibilities include comparative morphology, ML-based shape analysis, phylogenetic