Postdoctoral Research Associate

About the Role

The University of Virginia’s (UVA) Environmental Institute (EI) is seeking a Postdoctoral Research Associate to support its interdisciplinary “Climate and Power Systems” project.

Key Responsibilities

• Support the development of a robust multi-agent RL (MARL) framework.
• Handle multiple objectives of expansion, transition, and resilience planning in a non-stationary and climate-aware setting.
• Play a central role in modeling power system complexities and climate-driven uncertainties.
• Contribute significantly toward uncovering and incorporating real-world constraints into formulating and refining climate-sensitive resilient power systems of the future.
• Engage in industry collaborations, potentially including stakeholder interactions, feedback gathering, and incorporating real-world industry insights into research.
• Take on a leadership role, drive innovation, and contribute to the project’s strategic direction.

Requirements & Tech Stack

• Doctoral degree received or will be received by the start of the appointment.
• Preferred candidates have received their degree within five years prior to the start of the appointment.
• Power systems expertise.
• Machine learning expertise.
• Optimization expertise.
• Experience with deep learning (DL).
• Experience with reinforcement learning (RL).
• Strong interest in interdisciplinary research, bridging power systems, climate resilience, and advanced computational techniques.
• Familiarity with reinforcement learning or multi-agent systems is beneficial.
• Strong written and oral communication skills for dissemination to academic and industry audiences.
• Enthusiasm for and comfort with industry collaborations.

Qualifications

• Strength of research.
• Ability to collaborate across disciplines.
• Commitment to broadening perspectives and voices in finding applicable solutions for climate adaptation and mitigation.