| Purpose of the Position: |
The EarthRISE Project Office, within the Lab for Applied Science (LAS) under the Earth System Science Center (ESSC), is seeking a highly motivated Research Scientist with exceptional skills in applied agriculture, hydrology, water resource management, and geospatial artificial intelligence. Operating within Earth Action, the EarthRISE project office focuses on developing last-mile solutions, improving coordinated action across NASA Earth Science, and fostering workforce development. EarthRISE is actively involved in developing applications in water resources, agriculture, and their critical intersection to support state, local, tribal, territorial, and private sector stakeholders.
A successful candidate will lead and execute applied research leveraging Earth observations to address complex, real-world challenges such as consumptive water use, irrigation demand, drought impacts, flood mapping, and mitigation. This role requires deep domain expertise in the intersection of water and agriculture, utilizing advanced modeling and remote sensing applications (e.g., land surface hydrologic/hydraulic modeling, crop-specific remote sensing and modeling, reservoir management, and surface water level monitoring). Additionally, the candidate will make extensive use of very high-resolution commercial satellite data. A geospatial data expert who can apply sophisticated AI/ML techniques directly to Earth science and spatial datasets is sought, rather than an AI/ML generalist.
EarthRISE is a project of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) that works in collaboration with state, local, tribal, territorial, and private sector partners to use information provided by Earth observing satellites and geospatial technologies for managing environmental challenges EarthRISE’s goal is to empower decision-makers with tools, products, geospatial artificial intelligence, and services to act locally on issues such as disasters, agriculture, water, ecosystems, air quality, and health.
The EarthRISE Project Office in Huntsville, AL, offers a flexible and dynamic work environment, with an in-house team of over 30 science professionals and numerous opportunities for growth and professional development. With a growing economy, diverse population, low cost of living, and vibrant city life, Huntsville is consistently ranked among the top places to live in the U.S.
Duties / Responsibilities:
• Execute applied research and co-develop Earth observation-driven solutions focused on agricultural applications, water resources, irrigation, and hydrology for state, local, tribal, territorial, and private sector stakeholders.
• Develop, calibrate, and apply advanced land surface hydrologic, hydraulic, and agricultural models—coupled with crop-specific remote sensing techniques—to address issues such as flood mapping, drought monitoring, cropland/rangeland monitoring, and precision agriculture.
• Support applied research and application development for reservoir management and the monitoring of surface water levels to inform regional water resource planning.
• Apply geospatial artificial intelligence and machine learning workflows to extract actionable insights from multi-source remote sensing datasets, including extensive use of very high-resolution commercial satellite imagery.
• Develop and apply Earth observation workflows for crop monitoring and agricultural resilience applications.
• Provide technical and scientific expertise in areas related to consumptive water use, irrigation demand, water rights management, and drought resilience, actively leveraging tools and datasets such as OpenET.
• Translate complex Earth science data and model results into actionable, "last-mile" intelligence and decision-support tools for end-users.
• Lead publications, data products, and presentations at scientific and stakeholder-focused conferences.
• Provide coordination support and capacity-building/knowledge-transfer activities with domestic partner organizations and end-users.
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| Minimum Requirements: |
• Master’s degree in Hydrology, Agricultural, Engineering, Earth Science, Geospatial Science, Geography, Environmental Science, or a related field; (Bachelor's and experience in a specialized area may be substituted for a degree).
• Minimum of 1 year verifiable full-time work experience in these disciplines.
• Exceptional understanding of the intersection of hydrology and agriculture, including demonstrable experience with water resource and/or crop-specific remote sensing and modeling, consumptive water use, and irrigation management.
• Deep expertise in geospatial artificial intelligence; should have a proven track record of applying machine learning and AI techniques specifically to spatial and Earth observation data.
• Experience processing, analyzing, and deriving products from very high-resolution satellite imagery.
• Demonstrated proficiency with relevant modeling and monitoring applications, including land surface hydrologic modeling, hydraulic routing, surface water level assessments, and reservoir management workflows.
• Experience developing decision-support systems for agricultural monitoring, irrigation prioritization, crop growth cycle assessment, and yield modeling.
• Working knowledge of practical domestic water resource frameworks, including water rights and the application of tools like OpenET for evapotranspiration and consumptive use monitoring.
• Skilled in the use of Python, R, or other programming languages specialized for spatial data science, raster data processing automation, and machine learning pipelines.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills to effectively collaborate with interdisciplinary science teams and translate technical concepts to non-technical domestic stakeholders.
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| Desired Qualifications: |
• A PhD in Hydrology, Agricultural, Engineering, Earth Science, Geospatial Science, Geography, Environmental Science, or a related field is preferred.
• 2 or more years of experience working in these disciplines is desired.
• Experience applying hydrologic and Earth observation methods to agricultural or managed landscape systems is highly desired.
• Experience working with NASA and/or other federal, state, local, tribal, or private sector organizations is desired.
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