PhD Student

We have a vacancy for a fully funded PhD position in the Coastal Risks and Engineering group at the University of Central Florida (UCF) in Orlando. The successful candidate will be supervised by Dr. Thomas Wahl in the Civil, Environmental, and Construction Engineering Department (CECE) and National Center for Integrated Coastal Research (UCF Coastal). The candidate will work on a project funded by the National Science Foundation under the PREEVENTS program. Through collaboration with our partners at Stevens Institute of Technology, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, and City College of New York, the PhD candidate will be part of an interdisciplinary team while assessing the geomorphic and climatic drivers for changes in coastal flood risk in estuaries along the US east coast.

The candidate’s research will include the quantification of possible changes in different relevant drivers for coastal flood risk in estuaries (e.g. changes in tides, storm surge height, frequency, duration, intensity, or spatial footprint) and the development and application of univariate and multivariate stationary and non-stationary extreme value models to account for these changes in a probabilistic framework. This work will be informed and complemented by hydrodynamic numerical model experiments and analyzing climate and storm characteristics in close collaboration with our partners.

Applicants should possess a MSc in Civil Engineering, Statistics, Geosciences, Physical Oceanography, or other relevant field. Experience in data analysis and extreme value statistics in particular is desired. Candidates should be proficient in one of the common technical programing languages such as MATLAB, R, or Python.

Please send your application package including a cover letter and updated resume to t.wahl@ucf.edu. The start date for the position is Fall 2020. The position will be open until filled but review of applications will begin November 1st. International applicants need valid GRE and TOEFL scores to be admitted to UCF before the January 1^st deadline.

Please do not hesitate to contact me under the email address listed above in case you have additional questions. Information on the position is also available here: https://thomaswahl.org/positions/