[ES_JOBS_NET] Two Postdoc Positions (Experiments/Modeling) in Arctic Biogeochemistry

[Herndon, Elizabeth]

The Plant-Soil Interactions Group at Oak Ridge National Lab is looking for two postdocs to support the NGEE Arctic Project. Please see descriptions below as well as the links to the full ads:
https://jobs.ornl.gov/job/Oak-Ridge-Postdoctoral-Research-Associate-Modeling-TN-37830/948180500/
https://jobs.ornl.gov/job/Oak-Ridge-Postdoctoral-Research-Associate-Empirical-TN-37830/948171200/

Postdoctoral Research Associate – Empirical


The Next Generation Ecosystem Experiment Arctic (NGEE Arctic)<https://ngee-arctic.ornl.gov/> project seeks a postdoctoral researcher to study biogeochemical processes related to plant-soil feedbacks in Arctic tundra ecosystems. Recent efforts in the project have focused on how above and below-ground plant functional traits influence ecosystem carbon (C), water, and nutrient fluxes, and how redox conditions in permafrost soil profiles drive iron cycling and production of greenhouse gasses. The postdoctoral researcher will integrate plant traits with biogeochemistry to explore how vegetation modifies belowground redox processes. The postdoc will lead Arctic field campaigns and data synthesis to integrate soil biogeochemistry and greenhouse gas flux measurements for collaborative modeling at the plot scale. The postdoc will lead a lab-based mesocosm study on the impact of aerenchymous plant roots on redox conditions and biogeochemical processes at the plant-soil interface. Field campaigns to remote regions of Alaska (Utqiaġvik, Nome) will be required for sample collection as well as collection of relevant field data to compare to the results from the lab-based mesocosm study.



This position will be hosted within the Plant-Soil Interaction Group (PSI<https://www.ornl.gov/group/plant-soil-interactions>) in the Environmental Sciences Division (ESD), Biological and Environmental System Sciences Directorate (BESSD) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). The role will be mentored by Verity Salmon (salmonvg at ornl.gov<mailto:salmonvg at ornl.gov>) and Elizabeth Herndon (herndonem at ornl.gov<mailto:herndonem at ornl.gov>). The postdoctoral researcher will also work closely with an ecosystem modeler who will be working to model carbon, redox, and vegetation interactions at the ecosystem scale.



NGEE Arctic is a large, interdisciplinary research project that is geared towards improving the simulation of tundra ecosystems in the DOE’s earth system model E3SM<https://e3sm.org/>. Our team of scientists works at several national laboratories as well as the University of Alaska. We use experiments, field observations, and synthesis of existing data to inform the representation of environmental processes in models as well as model parameterization and evaluation. The researcher will work closely with a multidisciplinary team of ecological and biogeochemistry modelers, ecologists, biogeochemists, hydrologists, and cryosphere researchers to develop and parameterize reactive transport models of plant-soil feedbacks in a range of redox conditions.


Postdoctoral Research Associate – Modeling


The Next Generation Ecosystem Experiment Arctic (NGEE Arctic)<https://ngee-arctic.ornl.gov/> project seeks a postdoctoral researcher to study biogeochemical processes related to plant-soil feedbacks and greenhouse gas balance in Arctic tundra ecosystems using computational modeling. NGEE Arctic is a large, interdisciplinary research project that is geared towards improving the simulation of tundra ecosystems in the DOE’s earth system model E3SM<https://e3sm.org/>. Our team of scientists works at several national laboratories as well as the University of Alaska. We use experiments, field observations, and synthesis of existing data to inform the representation of environmental processes in models as well as model parameterization and evaluation. Recent efforts have focused on how above and below-ground plant functional traits influence ecosystem carbon (C), water, and nutrient fluxes, and how redox conditions in permafrost soil profiles drive iron cycling and production of greenhouse gasses. The postdoctoral researcher will conduct and analyze model simulations integrating plant traits with biogeochemistry to explore how interactions among vegetation, hydrology, and redox drive carbon cycling and greenhouse gas balances in tundra ecosystems, involving model simulations at mesocosm to landscape scales. The postdoc will also lead data synthesis of soil biogeochemistry and greenhouse gas flux measurements from Arctic systems to constrain and evaluate model simulations.



This position will be hosted within the Plant-Soil Interaction Group (PSI<https://www.ornl.gov/group/plant-soil-interactions>) in the Environmental Sciences Division (ESD), Biological and Environmental System Sciences Directorate (BESSD) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). The role will be mentored by Benjamin Sulman (sulmanbn at ornl.gov<mailto:sulmanbn at ornl.gov>) and Elizabeth Herndon (herndonem at ornl.gov<mailto:herndonem at ornl.gov>). The postdoctoral researcher will also work closely with an experimentalist who will be leading a lab-based mesocosm study on the impact of aerenchymous plant roots on redox conditions and biogeochemical processes at the plant-soil interface.



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Elizabeth M. Herndon

Senior Staff Scientist, Plant-Soil Interactions Group
Environmental Sciences Division
Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Joint Faculty Assistant Professor, Earth & Planetary Sciences
University of Tennessee Knoxville


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