Postdoctoral Fellow: Energy & Resource Systems Analytics

The University of Texas at Austin; Austin (TX); On-site; USD 55,000 - 75,000; Full time

Job summary

University of Texas seeks a Postdoctoral Fellow in Energy and Resource Systems at the Pickle Research Campus in Austin, TX. The role builds quantitative and economic models to assess energy, water, and land requirements for large-load industrial development in Texas, and designs databases supporting economic valuation of infrastructure options.

Responsibilities include geospatial analyses, model development, data pipelines, independent research, grant writing, and stakeholder briefings.

Qualifications

• PhD in resource or environmental economics, economics, energy systems engineering, industrial engineering, operations research, data science, water or environmental resources engineering, geosciences, or a closely related quantitative field.
• Demonstrated record of research communication, including peer-reviewed publication, and the ability to communicate quantitative results to non-technical audiences.
• Excellent teamwork, communication, and organizational skills; a self-starter who learns new subject areas quickly and stays focused on execution.
• Genuine curiosity about fast-growing, fast-changing sectors and comfort working in a fast-paced, collaborative team.
• Demonstrated research experience in quantitative modeling and database or data systems engineering.
• Prior research experience with large, heterogeneous databases and quantitative models.
• Documented capabilities in programming like Python, R, SQL, or Julia.
• Proficient in Excel and PowerPoint.

Responsibilities

• Assess the resource, infrastructure, and demand requirements of large-load industrial development, including energy, water, and land use, and competing claims on shared resources.
• Conduct integrated geospatial analyses for optimal siting, balancing access to water, land, generation resources, transmission, and existing industrial infrastructure, and evaluate synergies from co-locating complementary industries.
• Build and apply quantitative and economic models to quantify cost, reliability, and trade-offs across development scenarios, and develop projections of industrial resource and energy demand at high spatial and temporal resolution.
• Build a system modeling framework to evaluate the deliverability of large-load projects, including interconnection, capacity, and infrastructure constraints.
• Design, build, and maintain the databases and data pipelines that power COMPASS research, integrating large multi-source datasets (including ERCOT and EIA records) into reproducible analytical systems.
• Conduct independent research, and develop grant proposals.
• Present research to COMPASS Industrial Affiliates members, community stakeholders, and policymakers at consortium meetings, workshops, and short courses; contribute to member-facing forecasting reports, white papers, and policy briefs.
• Publish in BEG Reports of Investigation; peer reviewed, international, journals; and informal outlets.
• Develop and maintain the analytical, database, and computing infrastructure that forms the basis for these studies, including high performance computing workflows, geospatial data pipelines, and the interactive visualization and mapping database delivered to consortium members.
• Mentor graduate and undergraduate student researchers.

Skills

Teamwork

Communication

Organizational skills

Python

R

SQL

Julia

Education

PhD in resource or environmental economics, economics, energy systems engineering, industrial engineering, operations research, data science, water or environmental resources engineering, geosciences, or a closely related quantitative field

Tools

Python

R

SQL

Julia

Job description

University of Texas seeks a Postdoctoral Fellow in Energy and Resource Systems at the Pickle Research Campus in Austin, TX. The role builds quantitative and economic models to assess energy, water, and land requirements for large-load industrial development in Texas, and designs databases supporting economic valuation of infrastructure options.

Responsibilities include geospatial analyses, model development, data pipelines, independent research, grant writing, and stakeholder briefings.