Postdoctoral Researcher in WUI Fire Emissions, Experiments, and Multiscale Modeling

Iafss; Worcester (MA); Hybrid; USD 60,000 - 86,000; Full time

Job summary

Worcester Polytechnic Institute is seeking a postdoctoral researcher to contribute to an interdisciplinary project on wildland-urban interface fire emissions from building materials and scaled residential structures.

The role focuses on experiments, data analysis, and modeling to understand how fire behavior influences emissions and how to predict emissions from materials and assemblies across scales.

Qualifications

• PhD in mechanical engineering, architectural/building engineering, fire protection engineering, civil/environmental engineering, chemical engineering, atmospheric science, or closely related field.
• Strong foundation in heat and mass transfer, fluid mechanics, combustion, or environmental transport; plus quantitative data-analysis skills.
• Experience with experimental research or datasets; modeling plus hands-on experimental experience is a plus.
• Peer-reviewed publication record and ability to carry research from analysis to manuscript preparation.

Responsibilities

• Plan, execute, and analyze medium- and large-scale WUI fire experiments using building materials and scaled models.
• Analyze integrated fire-behavior and emission datasets (temperature, heat flux, flow, combustion indicators, aerosol/gas measurements).
• Evaluate fire-emission relationships, emission additivity, and scale dependence across scales with attention to uncertainty and reproducibility.
• Develop or apply computational models to interpret experiments and explore cross-scale information transfer (CFD, reduced-order or physics-informed models, urban dispersion).
• Prepare manuscripts and presentations; collaborate with students and project partners; contribute to proposal development.

Skills

Fire-smoke research

Data analysis

Scientific programming

Publication track record

Education

PhD in engineering or atmospheric sciences

Tools

FDS/WFDS

QUIC-Fire/QUIC-SMOKE

FIRETEC

High-performance computing

Job description

Civil, Environmental, and, Architectural Engineering | Fire Protection Engineering | Worcester, Massachusetts

Position Description

The research group at Worcester Polytechnic Institute is seeking a postdoctoral researcher to contribute to an interdisciplinary project on wildland-urban interface (WUI) fire emissions from building materials and scaled residential structures. The primary focus of the position is to support the current project through a combination of experiments, data analysis, and modeling. The project examines how fire behavior influences aerosol and gas emissions, whether emissions from complex building assemblies can be predicted from their individual materials, and how fire behavior and emission characteristics change across experimental scales. The position is intended for a researcher who can contribute strongly to the current project while developing broader expertise in multiscale wildfire-smoke research.

• PRIMARY FOCUS: Current WUI fire-emissions project: scaled house construction, multiscale experiments, data analysis, and model-supported interpretation.
• GROWTH DIRECTION: Extend project findings toward multiscale wildfire-smoke modeling, smoke transport, and interactions with the built environment.

Research Responsibilities

• Contribute to the planning, execution, and analysis of medium- and large-scale WUI fire experiments at WPI using building materials and scaled residential building models.
• Analyze integrated fire-behavior and emission datasets, including temperature, heat flux, flow/velocity, combustion indicators, and aerosol/gas measurements collected with project collaborators.
• Evaluate fire behavior-emission relationships, emission additivity, and scale dependence across bench-, medium-, and large-scale experiments, with attention to uncertainty and reproducibility.
• Develop or apply computational models that help interpret the experiments and investigate transfer of information across scales. Depending on expertise, this may involve fire/smoke CFD, reduced-order or physics-informed models, urban dispersion tools, or multiscale model coupling.
• Prepare peer-reviewed manuscripts and conference presentations, collaborate with graduate students and project partners, and contribute to proposal development and preliminary studies related to future wildfire-smoke research.

Qualifications

Applicants should hold a PhD in mechanical engineering, architectural/building engineering, fire protection engineering, civil/environmental engineering, chemical engineering, atmospheric science, or a closely related field. Strong candidates will demonstrate:

• Research experience in fire, smoke, thermal-fluid sciences, pollutant transport, or a closely related area.
• A strong foundation in heat and mass transfer, fluid mechanics, combustion, or environmental transport, together with scientific programming and quantitative data-analysis skills.
• Experience with experimental research or experimental datasets; candidates who combine computational modeling with hands-on experimental experience are especially encouraged.
• A peer-reviewed publication record and the ability to carry research from analysis and interpretation through manuscript preparation.

Additional Relevant Experience

Experience with medium- or large-scale fire experiments, aerosol/gas measurements, building-material combustion, model validation, uncertainty quantification, high-performance computing, or tools such as FDS/WFDS, QUIC-Fire/QUIC-SMOKE, FIRETEC, or related fire/dispersion models is desirable but not required.