Current Opportunities at Vanderbilt

The High Energy Nuclear Physics group at the Department of Physics and Astronomy, Vanderbilt University, is inviting applications for the position of Postdoctoral Research Associate for the fall of 2024. Candidates should hold a Ph.D. in high energy nuclear or particle physics and have demonstrated experience in data analysis/simulation/phenomenology studies and computational proficiency in either C++ or Python. The Vanderbilt group are members of the sPHENIX collaboration at RHIC (Brookhaven National Laboratory), the CMS collaboration at the LHC (CERN), ePIC collaboration at the upcoming EIC and the theory/experiment JETSCAPE/XSCAPE collaboration. The group, comprised of Profs. Vicki Greene, Julia Velkovska, Raghav Kunnawalkam Elayavalli, Yi Chen and Jean-Francois Paquet, have made major contributions in the study of the quark-gluon plasma (QGP) with detailed investigations of collective phenomena, hydrodynamic flow, jet-medium interactions and jet substructure. 

The successful applicant will be expected to work primarily with Prof. Raghav Kunnawalkam Elayavalli and their group, spending atleast 50% of their time on the NSF funded JETSCAPE/XSCAPE collaboration to work on Electron-Ion Collider related physics topics and advanced computational upgrades to the framework. Given the interest of the candidate, there are possibilities of the remaining time to be spent on analysis with CMS or sPHENIX or ePIC performance studies or additional collaborations with theorists depending on the interest of the applicant. The successful applicant will have opportunities to work closely and mentor graduate students at Vanderbilt and participate in or promote new scientific outreach programs undertaken by the HENP group at all levels starting from the general public, high school students to summer undergraduates.

Applicants should send a complete and up-to-date CV, a brief (1-page) description of relevant research experience and highlighting their interests, list of publications, and arrange for three recommendation letters to be sent electronically to Prof. Raghav Kunnawalkam Elayavalli: raghav.ke@vanderbilt.edu.

Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis but those received by January 15th 2024 will be given full and equal consideration. The position is for 2 years renewable by one more year depending on performance. Vanderbilt University is an Equal Opportunity Employer and greatly encourages historically underrepresented and marginalized minority candidates to apply.