Far Horizons Data Science Postdoctoral Fellow

The Science Engagement Division at the Adler Planetarium (Adler) is seeking candidates for a Postdoctoral Fellowship position in the field of Data Science, with an emphasis on Remote Sensing and Geospatial Analysis. The Postdoctoral Fellow will carry out independent research focusing on analyzing light pollution image data collected by the Adler’s Far Horizons research program.

The Far Horizons program is currently doing fieldwork using two main instrument sets designed and built at the Adler: the GONet camera system, which collects all-sky nighttime environment data in the field, and the NITELite system, which is a high-altitude balloon-borne camera system that contains regional scale night-time images from the stratosphere.

These instruments help characterize and quantify the effect of nighttime light on the environment. Recent results have included a large-scale distributed transect experiment with 19 GONet cameras across 140 km to map the extended skyglow of Chicago. Data collected from NITELite missions over Indianapolis, Indiana, are being used to characterize light emission by land use and explore the effects of light at night on urban ecological systems. Recent examples of research partnerships include the National Park Service, UCLA, Butler University, and the European Space Agency-funded NEOMI project.

In collaboration with Far Horizons staff and volunteers, the Postdoctoral Fellow will be responsible for the following:

• Pursuing an independent light pollution-focused research program. 
• Developing data pipelines to process raw images from the NITELite and GONet systems into a calibrated, georeferenced, indexed dataset.
• Creating tools to generate data products of interest from the NITELite and GONet datasets, such as
  • calibrated image mosaics for geospatial analysis
  • time-dependent features of light emission from image data
• Applying advanced data analysis techniques (e.g., machine learning, modeling, etc.) where relevant to research goals
• Mentoring students in research
• Assisting Teen Program experts in the development of Far Horizons student-facing programs

Although preferred, prior experience in the field of light pollution research is not required. 

The Postdoctoral Fellow responsibilities will be divided approximately 70% to research and 30% to outreach. This position's 30% outreach portion will involve mentoring students in research and assisting our Teen Program experts in developing student-facing programs built on Far Horizons content. Through the Adler’s Far Horizons program, we engage teens, undergraduate students, and adults in high-altitude balloon experiments, engineering, design, research, complex image processing, and data analysis. Far Horizons research is the foundation of our student STEM programming. As an example of the outcomes of these efforts, our teens recently helped establish the world’s largest Urban Night Sky Place through a partnership with the Forest Preserves of Cook County.

https://www.adlerplanetarium.org/career-opportunities/