Earth Institute Postdoctoral Fellowships at Columbia University, USA

Overview

The Fellows Program is the premier program in the world for those dedicated to a better understanding of critical scientific and social issues related to meeting global sustainable development goals. Postdoctoral fellows will join multidisciplinary teams of outstanding, committed scientists from a diverse group of Earth Institute research units and departments across Columbia University.

The Earth Institute is the world's academic pioneer in mobilizing the sciences and public policy in pursuit of a sustainable future, especially for the world's poor. More than 800 scientists are applying their expertise to reduce hunger, disease and environmental degradation, particularly in nations ravaged by the AIDS pandemic, climate change, and extreme poverty.

The Fellows Program provides innovative postdoctoral scholars with the opportunity to build a foundation in one of the core disciplines represented within the Earth Institute (i.e., any of the social sciences, earth sciences, biological sciences, engineering sciences and health sciences), while at the same time acquiring the cross-disciplinary expertise and breadth needed to address critical issues related to sustainable development and reducing environmental degradation, poverty, hunger and disease. The program offers a unique intellectual surrounding that fosters cross-disciplinary interaction, research and education. Earth Institute fellowships will ordinarily be granted for a period of 24 months.

The fellowship includes a $12,000 research allowance for the two year appointment, and carries an annual salary of about $48,000.

Candidates should submit a proposal for research based in a core discipline or in a thematic area represented by the Cross-Cutting Initiatives of the Earth Institute. The proposal should indicate how the research will contribute to the goal of global sustainable development. Proposals may include participating in and/or contributing to an existing multidisciplinary Earth Institute project, an extension of an existing project, or a new project that connects existing Earth Institute expertise in innovative ways.

Proposals will be evaluated on the basis of the strength of the research proposal and relevance to the goals of the Earth Institute and one or more of its research units.

Applications submitted by November 15 will be considered for fellowships starting in the summer or fall of the following year. Fellowship offers will be made in the spring.

Columbia University is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer. Minorities and women are encouraged to apply.

The Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory (LDEO), a center of the Earth Institute, is also awarding postdoctoral fellowships. Current expertise and research interests at Lamont-Doherty and Columbia include solid earth dynamics (e.g. seismology, mantle dynamics, petrology/geochemistry, earthquake and rock mechanics, marine and continental tectonics/geology/geophysics), ocean and atmospheric dynamics (e.g. climate/paleoclimate, physical/chemical oceanography, El Niño dynamics and forecasting) and life sciences (e.g. biological oceanography, plant physiology, paleontology). In addition, Lamont-Doherty is also developing new programs in complex and dynamic systems, coastal and estuarine processes, earth surface processes, energy systems, terrestrial ecology, hydrology and water resources, and natural hazards.