Opportunities

Global change is rapidly altering the Earth system, leading to more devastating extreme events and a greater need for tools for adaptation and planning. A growing wealth of observational data from satellites, sensor networks, foundation models, gridded weather and reanalysis, socio-economic databases, and other multi-scale technologies are enabling a higher-fidelity view of the Earth system than ever before, but a lack of computational tools limits our ability to leverage these data to understand the complex feedback governing the Earth system and its changes. The University of Utah, under the leadership of the One-Utah Responsible Artificial Intelligence (AI) Initiative (One-U RAI), is building a new group to address the full range of environmental challenges and opportunities enabled by AI by leveraging, integrating and enhancing existing strengths in earth and environmental science, social science, modeling and computation.

We seek candidates who will exploit emerging datasets to advance environmental and Earth system modeling, forecasting, and projection using state-of-the-art computational approaches such as machine vision, digital twins, AI, uncertainty quantification, data assimilation, or fusion techniques, with the goal of improving forecasts, hindcasts and future projections of environmental change. Methodological strengths may include Earth-system foundation or other machine-learned physics models; the use of AI methods for model parametrization; multi-model and multi-fidelity ensemble and generative approaches for uncertainty quantification; surrogate (reduced order/digital twin) models; and other modern data-assimilation and data-fusion techniques. Envi

Qualified candidates may have research interests across the globe, and with an interest in developing a research program in Utah and the Intermountain West. A doctoral degree in environmental or climate science, environmental studies, environmental engineering, applied math, geological science, geography, urban planning, computational science, or related fields is required by July 1, 2026.

The One-U RAI housed within the Scientific Computing and Imaging (SCI) Institute at the University of Utah is growing and pursuing multiple new faculty hires over the next 5 years. These hires will expand the core research expertise in responsible and translational AI within three thematic areas: environment, healthcare and wellness, and teaching and learning. A major goal is to attract new partnerships across the University and beyond. Candidates whose research expertise integrates social and technical aspects are of particular interest.

This specific recruitment is for a tenure-track position at the Assistant or Associate Professor level to begin in Fall 2026. The successful candidate will have a research appointment with the SCI Institute at the University of Utah, and their tenure home in one of the following participating colleges and departments: College of Architecture + Planning: Department of City and Metropolitan Planning; College of Business: Departments of Operations & Information Systems and Quantitative Analysis of Markets and Organizations (QAMO); John and Maria Price College of Engineering: Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering; College of Law; College of Science: School of Biological Sciences, Departments of Atmospheric Sciences and Geology & Geophysics; College of Social and Behavioral Science: Schools of Environment, Society & Sustainability and Public Affairs and Departments of Anthropology, Economics, and Sociology & Criminology. We seek a colleague with a commitment to excellence in teaching and demonstrated ability to obtain research funding and publish high-quality peer-reviewed research. We are especially interested in candidates who can contribute to our university's Strategy 2030 and the One-U RAI.

Please see the full posting here: Assistant/Associate Professor in AI for Environmental Modeling/Forecasting

There is also an opening at the Associate/Full Professor level: https://utah.peopleadmin.com/postings/189819