Computational Scientist - Climate
The University of Chicago

Department

Provost Research Computing Center

About the Department

The University of Chicago Research Computing Center (RCC), a unit in the Office of Research, provides high-end research computing resources to researchers at the University of Chicago. It is dedicated to enabling research by providing access to centrally managed High Performance Computing (HPC), storage, and visualization resources. These resources include hardware, software, high-level scientific and technical user support, and the education and training required to help researchers make full use of modern HPC technology and local and national supercomputing resources. The Office of Research oversees the conduct of sponsored research, research program development, and contract management functions.

Job Summary

The job develops software to support the data acquisition, ingestion, and integration for research projects. Assists in the development of user interfaces and scalable back-end services to automate and accelerate the scientific output of multi-institutional research projects.

The Research Computing Center (RCC) seeks an experienced Computational Scientist with a focus on climate research to serve as a domain expert in supporting and advising faculty, post-docs, and graduate students on a wide range of research projects. In this role, the Computational Scientist will support faculty research projects related to climate, understand faculty's research questions, and contribute to finding solutions and implementing them. Working as part of an existing team, the successful candidate will have ample opportunity to contribute to enabling research at the University of Chicago, develop and deliver training, and other activities designed to advance research related to climate, the earth system science and beyond.

Responsibilities

• Support applications, software, and tools for research related to climate, geophysical science, atmospheric science, etc.
  
• Assist researchers with compiling, debugging, optimizing, profiling, and porting codes and related applications on RCC HPC compute systems.
  
• Maintain and keep up to date on RCC HPC systems, community codes and software such as WRF, CESM, etc.
  
• Maintain and keep up to date repository of data for and from the climate and earth system science research community.
  
• Support and make available tools and resources to help UChicago researchers understand the strengths, limitations, and applications of the data, as well as software to help researchers analyze and visualize the data.
  
• Consult and interact with faculty and their research groups on a one-to-one basis to enable them to fully utilize the RCC and national computational resources for their scientific research.
  
• Design, create and present tutorials, hands-on workshops, and documentation.
  
• Help faculty with grant proposals by contributing sections of the proposal.
  
• Develops and presents technical training materials and web-based documentation. Ensures timely systems support and updates. Assists in conducting information security assessments and risk analysis of computing environment.
  
• Evaluates past and present technologies to help develop new tools. Ensures all the new tools have been through quality control reviews.
  
• Performs other related work as needed.
  

Minimum Qualifications

Education:
Minimum requirements include a college or university degree in related field.
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Work Experience:
Minimum requirements include knowledge and skills developed through 2-5 years of work experience in a related job discipline.
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Certifications:

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Preferred Qualifications

Education:

• PhD in Math, Computational Sciences, Earth Science, Soil Science, Environmental Science, geophysical sciences, or related field strongly preferred.
  

Experience:

• Experience writing or contributing to grant proposals strongly preferred.
  
• Must have strong understanding of climate and earth system science as demonstrated by academic record and/or job history.
  

Technical Skills or Knowledge:

• Proficiency in using one or more scientific programming languages such as C/C++, Fortran90, Python, MATLAB.
  
• Experience with scripting languages and visualization software to process, analyze, visualize, and interpret large datasets and dynamical model forecasts strongly preferred.
  
• Experience using ML or AI techniques for Climate or earth system science strongly preferred.
  
• Proficiency in temporal and spatial statistical analysis strongly preferred.
  
• Experience with UNIX programing.
  
• Parallel computing experience with MPI and OpenMP strongly preferred.
  
• Experience with Python (including packages such as pandas, numpy, scikit-learn, etc.), Shell, Git, Docker strongly preferred.
  
• Experience with IDL strongly preferred.
  
• Experience using one or more climate related community codes such WRF, CESM highly preferred.
  
• Experience installing and tuning scientific applications software on high-performance computers highly preferred. Strong software skills under Linux highly strongly preferred.
  
• Experience with HPC compiler optimization techniques and performance analysis and profiling tools strongly preferred.
  
• Experience working with scientific software packages such as NetCDF Climate Data Operators (CDO) and/or NetCDF Operators, strongly preferred.
  

Preferred Competencies

• Excellent interpersonal, verbal, written, and presentation skills.
  
• A broad knowledge of algorithms, programming languages, and libraries.
  
• Ability to understand and translate researchers' scientific goals into computational requirements.
  
• Ability to identify and gain expertise in appropriate new technologies and/or software tools.
  
• Ability to function as part of an interactive team while demonstrating self-initiative to achieve project's goals and Research Computing Center's mission.
  
• Demonstrated ability to work collaboratively within cross-functional teams.
  
• Strong analytical skills and problem-solving ability.
  
• Ability to work well with faculty and researchers.
  

Application Documents

• Resume or CV (required)
  
• Cover letter (preferred)
  

When applying, the document(s) MUSTbe uploaded via the My Experience page, in the section titled Application Documents of the application.

Job Family

Research

Role Impact

Individual Contributor

FLSA Status

Exempt

Pay Frequency

Monthly

Scheduled Weekly Hours

37.5

Benefits Eligible

Yes

Drug Test Required

No

Health Screen Required

No

Motor Vehicle Record Inquiry Required

No

Posting Statement

The University of Chicago is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity/Disabled/Veterans and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, national or ethnic origin, age, status as an individual with a disability, military or veteran status, genetic information, or other protected classes under the law. For additional information please see the University's Notice of Nondiscrimination.

Staff Job seekers in need of a reasonable accommodation to complete the application process should call 773-702-5800 or submit a request via Applicant Inquiry Form.

We seek a diverse pool of applicants who wish to join an academic community that places the highest value on rigorous inquiry and encourages a diversity of perspectives, experiences, groups of individuals, and ideas to inform and stimulate intellectual challenge, engagement, and exchange.

All offers of employment are contingent upon a background check that includes a review of conviction history. A conviction does not automatically preclude University employment. Rather, the University considers conviction information on a case-by-case basis and assesses the nature of the offense, the circumstances surrounding it, the proximity in time of the conviction, and its relevance to the position.

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