Research Associate V, Step 1-4

University of Alabama in Huntsville; Huntsville (AL); Hybrid; USD 71,000 - 88,000; Full time

Job summary

The University of Alabama in Huntsville invites applications for a Research Associate to support NASA Earth Action science and the Disasters Portal initiative. This role focuses on training content, workshop development, and cross-agency collaboration at MSFC in Huntsville.

Qualifications include a bachelor’s degree, 5.5+ years of experience, strong writing and communication skills, and experience with remote sensing, GIS, and Python. U.S. citizenship is required.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in a relevant field.
• Minimum of 5.5 years of full-time, verifiable work experience.
• Experience with developing science training resources.
• Experience with planning/organizing workshops or other events.
• Scientific writing experience.
• Strong communication skills.
• Project management skills.
• Experience working on both in-person and hybrid collaborative teams.
• Experience with remote sensing, GIS, and using NASA data.
• U.S. Citizenship is required.

Responsibilities

• Train and finalize a strategic end-to-end plan for Disasters Portal training.
• Publish and promote portal content and establish feedback mechanisms.
• Outline future training based on user needs.

Skills

Python programming

GIS

Remote sensing

Scientific writing

Project management

Strong communication

Team collaboration

Hybrid collaboration

Education

Bachelor's degree in a relevant field

Master's degree or PhD desired

Tools

Python

ArcGIS/QGIS

NASA data access tools

Job description

Job no: 504306
Department: Earth System Science Center
Work type: Staff Full-time Exempt
Location: Alabama
Categories: Research - Environmental

Purpose of the Position

We are currently seeking a Research Associate to provide support to NASA Earth Action science and application activities related to the development of the NASA Disasters Program Portal. The NASA Disasters Portal is dedicated to advancing the awareness, discoverability/access, understanding, and application of Earth science information for disaster management communities. Experience with developing scientific training, organizing and executing scientific workshops, and interfacing across various federal and state government agencies is strongly desired for this position. The position will be located at the National Space Science & Technology Center in Huntsville, Alabama.

Duties / Responsibilities

Training

• Develop and finalize a strategic end-to-end plan for Disasters Portal training and learning opportunities.
• Publish and promote completed content on the Disasters Portal and establish an internal and external feedback mechanism to improve future Portal content development activities.
• Outline future training to be developed based on user feedback and needs.

Workshop Development

• Finalize an end-to-end plan for both in-person and virtual stakeholder workshop activities.
• Produce comprehensive workshop reports for the Disasters Program Manager for each workshop, and establish formal post-workshop internal and external feedback mechanisms to maximize future workshop impacts.
• Outline a future workshop plan, both in-person and virtual, based on user feedback and needs.

Interfacing across the NASA Earth Science Division

• Interface with other Earth Science Division programs with a presence at MSFC, including ODSI, CSDA, EarthRISE, SPoRT, TOPS, FireSense, and ARSET.
• Interface with Disasters Program Principal Investigators and research teams.
• Interface with NASA mission teams and team members with a presence at MSFC, including NISAR, TEMPO, etc.
• Interface with other NASA Centers, particularly those with Earth Science offices, and NASA Distributed Active Archive Centers (DAACs), including the Alaska Satellite Facility (ASF).

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in a relevant field.
• Minimum of 5.5 years of full-time, verifiable work experience.
• Experience with developing science training resources.
• Experience with planning/organizing workshops or other events.
• Scientific writing experience.
• Strong communication skills.
• Project management skills.
• Experience working on both in-person and hybrid collaborative teams.
• Experience with remote sensing, GIS, and using NASA data.
• Familiarity with meteorological concepts and common types of Earth science applications, including hazards/disaster concepts such as severe storms, flooding, tropical cyclones, fires, and/or earthquakes.
• Experience with remote sensing, Earth observation/satellite data analysis, atmospheric & land surface modeling, Python programming, and GIS.
• U.S. Citizenship is required.

Desired Qualifications

• A Master's degree or PhD in a relevant field is desired.
• Experience working with NASA and/or other federal or state government agencies is preferred.
• Experience with Linux; working with Optical, thermal remote sensing, and Synthetic Aperture Radar data; working with different data and image formats; knowledge of artificial intelligence/machine learning; knowledge of AWS/cloud computing is desired.
• Advanced knowledge of meteorological concepts and common types of Earth science applications, including hazards/disaster concepts such as severe storms, flooding, tropical cyclones, fires, and/or earthquakes is desired.
• Advanced experience with remote sensing, Earth observation/satellite data analysis, atmospheric & land surface modeling, Python programming, and GIS is preferred.

Published Salary (if available)

$70,500 - $87,741

Advertised: Aug 24 2026 Central Daylight Time

Applications close:

The University of Alabama in Huntsville is an equal opportunity employer (EOE), including an EOE of protected veterans and individuals with disabilities.