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The National Energy Technology Laboratory's (NETL's) record of success has been built on understanding the future of energy and the technologies required to make that future possible. We’ve long touted our success in developing the technologies that took on acid rain in the 1970s and mercury in the early 2000s. More recently, NETL has a leading role in President Biden’s ambitious climate goals, including a carbon emission-free power sector by 2035 and a net-zero economy by 2050.

Program Goals

The NETL Postgraduate Research Program (PGRP) is a high-intensity program designed to identify recent Master’s and Doctoral graduates of high promise and to foster advanced skill development. It allows the postgraduate to systematically outline career goals and helps provide the means of achieving these goals. NETL principal investigators and leads serve as mentors to PGRP participants during the program. This interaction affords the postgraduate a unique opportunity to develop critical skills needed to become an independent professional.

The program goals include providing the opportunity to participants to:

  • Develop skills and knowledge in their field of study
  • Engage with new areas of basic and applied research
  • Network with world-class scientists
  • Exchange ideas and skills with the Laboratory community
  • Use state-of-the-art equipment
  • Contribute to answers for today's pressing scientific questions
  • Collaborate with the broader scientific and technical communities

Project Details

Through the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE), this posting seeks a post-Doctoral or post-Master's researcher to engage in projects with the Research Innovation Center (RIC) at the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) in the area of Geologic Carbon Storage under the mentorship of Veronika Vasylkivska. This project will be hosted at the NETL Albany, OR campus.

The Department of Energy’s (DOE) National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) is conducting research to advance the science and engineering knowledge base for technologies that accelerate the industrial-scale implementation of geologic carbon storage (GCS). As part of this effort, NETL, through its Research and Innovation Center (RIC), is leading a multi-laboratory effort that leverages broad technical capabilities across the DOE complex into a mission-focused platform that will develop the integrated science base that can be applied to risk assessment for long-term storage of carbon dioxide (CO2): the National Risk Assessment Partnership (NRAP).

NRAP draws expertise from five DOE national laboratories: NETL, Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL). The motivating goal of NRAP is to build methods and computational tools, and science and engineering insights, to quantitatively assess and manage key environmental risks to enable large-scale deployment of GCS. Of particular interest are risks associated with the potential release of CO2 or brine from the storage reservoir, and potential ground motion impacts due to large volume injection of CO2.

We invite applications for a fellowship in Computational Geoscience. Applicants should have a PhD in Computational Geosciences, Mathematics, Computer Science, or similar field. This fellowship offers a rich learning experience for individuals who wish to deepen their expertise and expand their horizons. The role focuses on gaining new skills and insights within a collaborative and multidisciplinary team setting. Throughout the training, the researcher will gain insights into the development and improvement of computational risk assessment and monitoring tools for geological carbon storage by drawing from a rich experience of a diverse team of experts from various fields, including geosciences, engineering, and data science. Experience in computational model development with Python is essential. Additionally, familiarity with various monitoring technologies for carbon storage will be advantageous but not required.

Stipend: The selected participant will receive a monthly stipend commensurate with educational level and experience.

  • Post-Master's stipends start at $3,891 per month.
  • Post-Doctoral stipends start at $5,759 per month.
    Actual stipend rate offered may be increased based on experience.

Deliverables: To document the effectiveness of the program, participants are required to submit a pre-appointment and post-appointment survey, as well as a reflection on their appointment experience when they renew or end their appointment. The reflection should summarize their project(s), additional activities, and overall experience. Details are provided as the appointment end date approaches.
Participants may also have the opportunity to contribute to manuscripts, journal articles, book chapters, conference presentations, posters, patents, and other publications as a part of their appointment. Such achievements should also be reported to ORISE; additional details are provided after an offer has been accepted.

 

The National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL), part of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) national laboratory system, is owned and operated by the DOE. NETL supports the DOE mission to advance the energy security of the United States. This is an educational opportunity offered by NETL and administered by the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education. Participants in the program are not considered employees of NETL, DOE, the program administrator, or any other office or agency.

Qualifications

 

To be eligible, you must either:

  • have received a Doctoral degree within the last five years or be currently enrolled in a Doctoral degree program and complete the degree prior to the appointment start date.
  • have received a Master's degree within the last three years or are currently enrolled in a Master's degree program and complete the degree prior to the appointment start date.

The ideal candidate would have some, but not necessarily all, of the following:

  • PhD in in computer science, hydrogeology, petroleum engineering, reservoir engineering, wellbore engineering, machine learning, data science, mathematics, computational geology, geophysics, physics or similar field, or a related discipline.
  • Proficiency in Python programming and familiarity with relevant libraries (e.g., NumPy, SciPy, Pandas, Matplotlib).
  • Experience with version control systems, specifically Git.
  • Some experience in software development and a strong interest in computational problem-solving.
  • Enthusiasm for learning and collaborating with a multidisciplinary team.