Postdoctoral positions in analysis of JWST observations of exoplanets, brown dwarfs, and protostars

NASA Ames Research Center has postdoctoral positions available in the area of characterization of exoplanet, brown dwarf, and protostellar atmospheres with James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) spectroscopic and photometric data. We expect to offer one position in the analysis of time-series observations of transiting planets and one position in the analysis of protostar and brown dwarf spectra. The data will be obtained via guaranteed-time observations (GTO) and possibly general observer (GO) observations that are scheduled to start in April 2019.

The exoplanet postdoc will work closely with Tom Greene at NASA Ames in analyzing JWST NIRCam and MIRI transit and secondary eclipse spectra and images of warm planets that mostly have masses between Neptune and Jupiter. The primary duty is to optimize the data reduction by applying sophisticated de-correlation and / or statistical (i.e. Gaussian process) techniques. Experience in optimizing data reduction pipelines, systematic noise removal, and analysis of high precision time-series exoplanet data using Python is required. 

The second postdoc will work with NASA Ames researchers Tom Roellig and Tom Greene in the analysis of brown dwarf and Class 0 protostar spectra, respectively. This analysis will largely consist of estimation of model parameters via statistical data fitting techniques (e.g., MCMC, MultiNest). We expect that the standard JWST pipelines will deliver data with sufficient quality for this task. Experience in data reduction and statistical analysis of stellar, brown dwarf, protostellar, or other similar infrared spectra using Python is required.

Both positions will also require working effectively with modest-sized teams distributed in the US and Europe. There will be opportunities for independent research, and we would particularly encourage and support work on related JWST GO proposals. Funding is available for research travel. We would like the positions to commence in the summer of 2018, several months before the JWST launch in October. We expect that each position will be funded for 2 years or more.

Applications are due to the NASA Postdoctoral Program (NPP) by November 1. Interested researchers should contact Tom Greene ([email protected]) at least 3 weeks before this date to discuss suitability and the NPP application proposal.