DEPARTMENT: Space Situational Awareness (SSA)
POSITION: Tenured/Tenure-Track Assistant, Associate or Full Professor
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A Faculty Cluster Hire in Space Situational Awareness
The University of Arizona (UA) is assembling a dedicated, multi-disciplinary team of researchers to tackle the problem of Space Situational Awareness (SSA). Over the past 50 years we have become more dependent on space in our daily lives to provide communication, navigation, and other essential services such as weather and remote sensing. Meanwhile the space environment has become congested, contested, and competitive. The challenge of SSA is to provide commercial, civil and military space operators with a comprehensive knowledge of what is currently happening in space, the ability to understand events that have happened in space, and to predict what may happen in the future. This requires a broad range of technologies including optics and sensors; image and sensor processing; computing and handling large data sets; orbit prediction and estimation; space weather sensing and prediction; data fusion; autonomous, cooperative space systems; and engineering of complex systems of systems.
UA is a world leader in developing, managing and operating ground- and space-based sensor systems for deep space exploration, including more than 20 astronomical telescopes with instruments spanning the electromagnetic spectrum, space-based instrument design and operations, data processing and analysis, and space systems engineering, integration, and testing. UA is investing in the development of massive cyberinfrastructure to support high-volume data processing from the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope and the iPlant collaboratory. Additionally, the Spacewatch and Catalina Sky Survey programs for near-Earth object detection have developed significant operating procedures and software infrastructure that will be adapted to provide unique solutions for SSA. UA is well equipped to respond to the challenge of SSA and provide end-to-end solutions built on our existing strengths in these technologies.
Our goal is to become the preeminent university in SSA research, education, and operational support by establishing an unrivaled environment for current and future industry and government employees to learn about and solve problems of critical national importance. This will be achieved by leveraging extant UA facilities, capabilities, and partnerships; and targeted faculty and staff cluster hires to work in applied areas within UA’s fundamental science and engineering strengths. Successful candidates under the aegis of this cluster hire initiative will have an exemplary record of externally funded research, be comfortable working in an interdisciplinary collaborative environment and across college and department boundaries, and actively pursue new team science and engineering opportunities in SSA.
Interested potential members of the team are invited to apply for the following tenured or tenure-track faculty positions at the Assistant, Associate, or Full Professor level. We intend to make one hire within each position, each with an anticipated start date of August 2016. The home academic department for each position will be determined through discussion with the successful applicant, who will be expected to engage with multiple departments but ultimately select from Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering, Astronomy, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Planetary Sciences, Optical Sciences, or Systems and Industrial Engineering.
Moving Object Detection and Characterization
UA invites applications for a faculty position in moving object detection and characterization. Candidates should have an earned doctorate in Astronomy, Planetary Sciences, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Optical Engineering, Computer Science, or a related field, with a focus on moving objects and an interest in applying their expertise to problems related to the detection and characterization of both manmade and natural objects. Desired areas of expertise would include but not be limited to signal and image processing, feature extraction, spectral analysis, sparse representation, pattern recognition, scene analysis, and computer vision. The successful candidate’s research program will be enabled by data from the UA asteroid survey programs (Spacewatch and Catalina Sky Survey), the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope, and other assets readily available to UA
astronomers.
Astrodynamics
UA invites applications for a faculty position in astrodynamics. Candidates should have an earned doctorate in Aerospace Engineering, Aeronautics and Astronautics, or a closely related field, with a focus on SSA problems or expertise in areas related to SSA. Such areas include but are not limited to: advanced orbit and attitude estimation (for example using particle and Gaussian mixture filters); inferring space object characteristics from nongravitational behavior; multi-target, multi-sensor tracking using finite set statistics; 6 degrees-of-freedom modeling and uncertainty propagation; numerical modeling and long-term orbit prediction using parallel computing and GPUs; and orbital debris modeling and mitigation.
SSA Sensor System and Instrumentation Design
UA invites applications for a faculty position in design and construction of novel instrumentation for ground and space. Candidates should have earned a doctorate in Astronomy, Optical Science, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Physics, or a related field, with a focus on SSA problems or expertise in areas related to SSA. Such areas include but are not limited to: detector arrays with spectrally resolving pixels; compound semiconductor detectors; advanced ground-based and space-based optical systems, with an emphasis on rapid tracking; and methods for extracting information from complex high-time-resolution optical systems. The successful candidate will also be well-positioned to develop novel optical and sensor fabrication technologies (including through collaboration with industry) that will contribute to UA's ability to address SSA requirements.
Complex Systems Integration
UA invites applications for a faculty position in complex space systems design and integration who will expand current university capabilities and address large, complex systems integration problems in the SSA domain. The candidate is envisioned to work with the faculty in Systems and Industrial Engineering, Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering, Planetary Science, and Astronomy, to establish a rigorous system-centric approach to integrate, develop, optimize, and manage operational systems that satisfy SSA requirements. This includes conceiving and implementing innovative methods to develop complex system architecture, managing system of systems interfaces, devising concept of operations and modeling operational behavior, and autonomous tasking (including integrated planning / scheduling) of SSA sensor assets based on real time information and operational needs. In addition, expertise in the areas of model-based systems engineering and architecture development as applied to space systems for Earth and Planetary observation is highly desired.
At the University of Arizona, we value our inclusive climate because we know that diversity in experiences and perspectives is vital to advancing innovation, critical thinking, solving complex problems, and creating an inclusive academic community. We translate these values into action by seeking individuals who have experience and expertise working with diverse students, colleagues and constituencies. Because we seek a workforce with diverse perspectives and experiences, we encourage minorities, women, veterans, and individuals with disabilities to apply. As an Employer of National Service, we also welcome alumni of AmeriCorps, Peace Corps, and other national service programs.
Applications will be reviewed starting January 11, 2016, and will be accepted until the open positions are filled.
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