Carnegie Origins Postdoctoral Fellowship

Submission Information
Publish Date: 
Friday, September 3, 2021
Archive Date: 
Friday, October 29, 2021
Job Summary
Job Category: 
Post-doctoral Positions and Fellowships
Institution Classification/Type: 
Research Laboratory
Institution/Company: 
Carnegie Institution for Science
Department Name: 
Earth and Planets Laboratory or Observatories
City: 
District of Columbia
State/Province: 
Washington or Pasadena
Country: 
United States of America
Announcement
Job Announcement Text: 

The Carnegie Institution for Science invites applications for the five-year Carnegie Origins Postdoctoral Fellowship. The Fellow is expected to carry out an original research program that addresses the nature of planetary systems and the conditions that give rise to them. Possible research topics include, but are not limited to, star-planet interaction, star and planet formation, detection and characterization of exoplanets, instrumentation, Galactic chemical evolution, and stellar abundances.

The Fellow is expected to split their fellowship residence between the Observatories (OBS) in Pasadena and the Earth and Planets Lab (EPL) in Washington, DC, in a way to be negotiated, but approximately evenly split. Further information on the host departments is available at https://obs.carnegiescience.edu/ and https://epl.carnegiescience.edu. The staff of the Observatories and EPL welcome and encourage collaboration, but the Fellow will be free to pursue their program independently.

The Carnegie Institution strives to enable a scientifically excellent, equitable, and inclusive community, and therefore aims for diverse groups of people to collaborate and thrive at Carnegie. Applicants may use their cover letter to describe how they have contributed to such community characteristics in previous positions, and how those contributions have been informed by their life experiences. We encourage applicants from under-represented groups and backgrounds to apply. The Carnegie Institution is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment and will not be discriminated against on the basis of gender, race/ethnicity, protected veteran status, disability, or other protected group status. It might be necessary for a successful applicant to obtain a J-1 visa in order to enter the U.S. and work at Carnegie Science. If a visa is required, we will work with you and provide a DS2019 form, which will be required by your country’s nearest American Embassy or Consulate when submitting a visa application.

The fellowship provides generous support for observing, travel, computing, and publications. The Fellow will have access to all of the resources and facilities of both departments. In particular, Carnegie operates the Las Campanas Observatory in Chile (http://www.lco .cl), which includes the twin 6.5-meter Magellan telescopes, 2.5-meter du Pont, and 1.0-meter Swope telescopes. Carnegie is a full institutional member of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey IV and V collaborations. Scientific computing resources available include the Carnegie Memex cluster (https://sites.google.com/carnegiescience.edu/memex) in addition to local computing resources. The Fellow can expect a highly interdisciplinary environment, and may wish to participate in interdisciplinary projects such as Carnegie Worlds (https://planets.carnegiescience.edu), a cross-department initiative that integrates exoplanet research with geoscience.

The principal selection criteria will be outstanding research accomplishments, promise of future achievement, originality and independence, and relevance to the origins and nature of planetary systems. The successful applicant must have completed the Ph.D. requirements before assuming the fellowship. The application must include: 1) a curriculum vitae; 2) list of publications; 3) a description of previous and current research (up to 3 pages including references); 4) a research proposal (up to 5 pages including references); 5) a cover letter that describes how their research plan will benefit from the Origins Fellowship, how they will use the resources and facilities available at each department, and how they intend to divide their time between departments.

To facilitate ease of submission and cut down on duplicate materials, applicants may apply to the Carnegie Origins Fellowship at the same time as either the Carnegie Postdoctoral Fellowship at EPL or at OBS, at either https://jobs.carnegiescience.edu/jobs/carnegie-postdoctoral-fellowships or https://obs.carnegiescience.edu/fellowships. Origins Fellowship applications submitted via either department will be jointly reviewed; therefore only one submission is necessary. However, applicants wishing to be considered for the Carnegie Postdoctoral Fellowship in the other department than the one to which they submitted their Origins application must also submit an application there.

The deadline for application materials, along with the names of three references, is November 1, 2021. Reference letters are due by November 8, 2021. 
Address any questions you have to [email protected] and/or [email protected].

Application Deadline: 
Monday, November 1, 2021
Current Status of Position: 
Accepting Applicants
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Attention To: 
Carnegie Origins Fellowship Applications Committee
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Subject: 
Carnegie Origins Postdoctoral Fellowship