The Department of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences at Rice University is inviting applications for the Wiess and Pan Postdoctoral Research Fellowships. We are seeking candidates with independent research interests that intersect with one or more faculty within our department. Both domestic and international applicants are welcome, but applicants must have a Ph.D. awarded within three years of the time of appointment. Each research fellowship will be supported for two years, pending satisfactory progress during the first year, and covers an annual stipend of $60,000 with a benefits package and an additional annual discretionary research allowance of $3,500. Applicants are requested to develop a proposal of research to be undertaken during the fellowship period. The principal selection criteria are scientific excellence, a clearly expressed research plan to address questions at the forefront of their field of study, and research synergies with at least one faculty. The proposed research should, however, encompass independent research ideas and explore new directions beyond the applicant’s Ph.D. Preference will be given to applicants whose proposals demonstrate independence and originality, and also the potential for collaboration with one or more faculty in the Department of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences. The applications are due on November 1, 2018.

Jeanine Ash, a new Rice postdoctoral researcher and recipient of a Center for Dark Energy Biosphere Investigations (C-DEBI) fellowship, is the focus of a video about her duties as a member of the science party on the JOIDES Resolution, a research ship and part of the National Science Foundation-supported International Ocean Discovery Program. Ash was part of Expedition 374, which spent 46 days at sea this year to study the evolution of the Ross Sea ice sheet off West Antarctica and the relationship between climatic and oceanic change through the Neogene and Quaternary periods, from 23 million years ago to the present day. In the video, Ash describes her work to understand the balance between the massive amount of methane, a greenhouse gas, under the Antarctic seafloor and the microbes that consume it and keep it from escaping to the atmosphere, as well as the microbes’ susceptibility to climate change.

The Department of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences at Rice University is inviting applications for the Wiess Post-Doctoral Research Fellowship. We are seeking candidates with independent research interests that intersect with one or more faculty within our department. Applicants must have a Ph.D. awarded within three years of the time of appointment. The research fellowship will be supported for two years, pending satisfactory progress during the first year, and covers an annual stipend of $60,000 with a benefits package and an additional annual discretionary research allowance of $3,500. Applicants are requested to develop a proposal of research to be undertaken during the fellowship period. The principal selection criteria are scientific excellence, a clearly expressed research plan to address questions at the forefront of their field of study, and research synergies with at least one faculty. The proposed research should, however, encompass independent research ideas and explore new directions beyond the applicant’s Ph.D. Preference will be given to applicants whose proposals demonstrate independence and originality, and also the potential for collaboration with one or more faculty in the Department of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences. Applications should be submitted to the chair of the fellowship search committee by November 10, 2017.

The Department of Earth Science at Rice University is inviting applications for the Wiess Post-Doctoral Research Fellowship in the broad fields of Earth, atmospheric, and planetary sciences. Applicants must have a Ph.D. awarded within three years of the time of appointment. The research fellowship will be supported by the Department of Earth Science for two years pending satisfactory progress in their first year. The fellowship covers an annual stipend of $60,000 with a benefits package and an additional annual discretionary research allowance of $3,500. Applicants are requested to develop a proposal of research to be undertaken during the fellowship period. The principal selection criteria are scientific excellence and a clearly expressed research plan to address questions at the forefront of Earth science, broadly defined. Applicants are encouraged to explore possible research synergies with faculty in the Department of Earth Science (http://earthscience.rice.edu), but the proposed research should encompass independent research ideas and explore new directions beyond the applicant’s Ph.D. Preference will be given to candidates whose proposals demonstrate independence and originality, but also the potential for collaboration with one or more faculty in the Department of Earth Science. Application deadline: November 15, 2016.