Postdoctoral Opportunity in Renewable Energy & Environment

The Department of Earth and Environmental Science at Temple University (PA, USA) is seeking a full-time Postdoctoral Research Associate interested in the general area of environmental impacts of renewable energy development.

The successful applicant will investigate sustainable solutions to lower the environmental and economic cost of solar energy development by providing novel analysis methodologies and field data on solar energy – agriculture colocation approaches from multiple sites. The project will evaluate environmental impacts of solar energy development on soil and water resources and explore opportunities to colocate agriculture/range crops with solar infrastructure. This NSF-CAREER funded project will create research, educational and public outreach opportunities related to environmental sustainability by – training graduate and undergraduate students with novel tools and analysis, creating test sites for technology demonstrations of solar energy-agriculture colocation, providing opportunities for public outreach, science communication and teaching (including international), and broadening participation of underrepresented groups. Opportunities will also be provided for collaborating in other ongoing projects and for developing independent projects.

Learn more about our work on colocation of solar energy and agriculture: Ravi et al 2012, 2014, 2016, Choi et al, 2020, 2021, Bertel et al 2021, Towner et al 2021.

The postdoctoral scholar will be advised by Dr. Sujith Ravi (Temple University, PA https://sites.temple.edu/ravi/home/). The postdoctoral position is available immediately. Initial appointment will be for one year with likely renewal pending satisfactory performance. Requirements include a Ph.D. in earth sciences, hydrology/water resources, environmental science, environmental engineering or similar fields, strong organizational, communication and writing skills. Experience or interest in quantitative data analysis (using R or Python), sensor networks, science education/outreach activities is preferred. The successful candidate will be expected to contribute to proposal writing and mentoring undergraduate and graduate students.

Review of applications will begin immediately and continue until the position is filled. Interested candidates are encouraged to contact Dr. Sujith Ravi, Associate Professor, Department of Earth & Environmental Science, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA (sravi@temple.edu), with your current CV and sample publications.

Temple University is a comprehensive public research university located in Philadelphia, PA. Temple University is a dynamic urban university with around 40,000 students and provides one of the nation’s most comprehensive and diverse learning environments. Temple is classified as a university with the highest research activity (R1) and is ranked by the National Science Foundation as among the top 100 universities in the country for research expenditures. More information about our department is available at http://www.temple.edu/geology/ .

For more information contact Sujith Ravi, Associate Professor, Department of Earth & Environmental Sciences, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA (sravi@temple.edu).

We received funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF- Geomorphology & Land use dynamics) to study soil moisture dynamics and sediment transport in saline/sodic agricultural soils. We (with collaborators from UC Berkeley and USDA) will investigate fundamental soil hydrological and geomorphic processes involved in soil salinization and provide a new mechanistic framework for their explanation. Salinity-affected agricultural systems — a serious threat to global food security — are distributed throughout the world and a quantitative assessment of soil salinity-soil erosion nexus is therefore critically important in understanding feedbacks to climate, air quality, and soil degradation.

Sujith Ravi received a National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER Award from the NSF/ENG/CBET Environmental Sustainability program. The Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) is the US National Science Foundation’s most prestigious awards in support of early-career faculty who have the potential to serve as academic role models in research and education and to lead advances in the in their fields.

Berger, A., R. Valenca, Y. Miao, S. Ravi, and S. Mohanty (2019), Nitrate removal in biochar-augmented woodchip biofilters: Effect of rainfall extremes, Water Research, doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2019.115008 [Elsevier, IF: 8.5]

Stormwater biofilters have been increasingly used to mitigate the impact of climate change on the export of contaminants including nitrate to water bodies. Yet, their performance is rarely tested under high-intensity rainfall events, which are predicted to occur more frequently under climate change scenarios. Overall, our results show that biochar could increase the resiliency of woodchip biofilters for denitrification in high-intensity rainfall events thereby mitigating the water quality degradation during climate change.

The goal of the visit  was to formalize a long-term collaborative effort between the Department of Earth & Environmental Science at Temple University and Bogor Agricultural University (IPB) and Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB), two of Indonesia’s premier national agricultural and technological research universities.

Wang G, J. Li , and S. Ravi (2019), A combined grazing and fire management may reverse woody shrub encroachment in desert grasslands, Landscape Ecology, doi.org/10.1007/s10980-019-00873-0 [Springer, IF: 4.5]

Fire and controlled grazing have been widely adopted as management interventions to counteract woody shrub proliferation in many arid and semiarid grassland systems. The actual intensity of grazing and fire, along with the timing of the interventions, however, are difficult to determine in practice. This study aims to establish model simulations to access the long-term landscape changes under different land management scenarios. We developed a cellular automata model to evaluate landscape dynamics in response to scenarios of grazing, fire, time of intervention, and initial coverage of grasses and shrubs.

In recognition of the positive impact in mentoring undergraduate and graduate students, Sujith Ravi awarded the Distinguished Faculty Award for Mentoring by the College of Science and Technology, Temple University.

Ravi. S., H. Gonzales*, I. Buynevich,  J. Li, J. Sankey, D. Dukes* and G. Wang (2019), On the development of a magnetic susceptibility-based tracer for  sediment transport research, Earth Surface Processes & Landforms, doi.org/10.1002/esp.4536 [Wiley, IF: 3.75]

A novel metal tracer‐based methodology for estimating aeolian sediment redistribution, using spatio‐temporal measurements of low‐field magnetic susceptibility (MS). This experiment represents the first step toward the development of a cost‐effective and non‐destructive tracer‐based approach to estimate the transport and redistribution of sediment by aeolian processes.

Bill Burger (MS) was awarded the NSF LTER summer fellowship form the Sevilleta LTER (NM) for his project on biophysical impacts of prescribed fires and their implications on grassland restoration.

Wang et al. (2018) in Ecosystems show that prescribed fire facilitates the remobilization of nutrient-enriched soil from shrub microsites to grass and bare microsites and thereby reduces the spatial heterogeneity of soil resources in a grassland encroached by shrubs in the Chihuahuan desert.

Wang*., G., J. Li,   S. Ravi, D. Dukes*, H. Gonzales*, and J. Sankey (2018), Post-fire redistribution of  soil carbon and nitrogen at a grassland-shrubland ecotone, Ecosystems, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-018-0260-2  [Springer, IF: 4.2]