Postdoctoral Fellowship (13) at University of Texas at Austin, United States

The Research Associate will conduct research as part of the Willcox Research Group. Technical areas to be covered include digital twins, uncertainty quantification, and applications to a broad range of complex systems.

Icy ocean worlds, which include bodies like Enceladus, Titan, Europa, and Ganymede, constitute a fascinating and important class of planetary bodies that we are just beginning to understand. Computer modeling is an important tool to help advance our understanding of the interiors of these bodies and the geophysical processes that drive their evolution and behavior. UTIG seeks a postdoctoral scholar who can contribute to ongoing work to better understand the interiors of these bodies, particularly the structure and dynamics of their icy shells.

The successful candidate would work primarily with Dr. Douglas Hemingway but will have opportunities to collaborate with other researchers at UTIG, across the Jackson School of Geosciences, and across the wider UT campus. Candidates should be self-motivated and interested in a collaborative working environment, which may include working closely with faculty, students, and other postdoctoral researchers. Candidates should have a strong background in physics and mathematics as well as expertise in geophysics, geodynamics, geochemistry, and/or computer modeling (experience with Matlab or similar is preferred, but not required). In addition to supporting ongoing work at UTIG, the successful candidate will be encouraged to initiate and lead their own projects with support from Dr. Hemingway and other researchers.

The Postdoctoral Fellow will lead research in high-throughput synthesis and discovery of advanced functional materials, with a preferred background in electrocatalysis or battery-related systems. This role supports TMI’s mission to accelerate materials innovation through data-driven approaches and autonomous experimentation. The Postdoctoral Fellow will contribute to the rapid exploration of novel materials chemistries—such as compositionally complex energy materials—using high-throughput, combinatorial synthesis strategies. The position involves working at the intersection of robotic synthesis, AI-guided materials discovery, and rapid characterization to enable efficient screening and optimization of functional materials. The Postdoctoral Fellow will collaborate with a multidisciplinary team of researchers and help establish TMI as a leader in autonomous materials research and intelligent laboratory systems.

The Postdoctoral Fellow will lead research in agentic AI and autonomous laboratory systems as part of the advanced materials characterization and discovery initiatives within the Texas Materials Institute (TMI) at The University of Texas at Austin. This position is centered on developing AI agents and agentic orchestration frameworks capable of observing, reasoning, planning, and acting across multiple classes of scientific instruments, enabling a fully integrated closed-loop “self-driving laboratory”. The role focuses on providing the AI core and foundational intelligence that coordinates the entire experimental ecosystem.

The Postdoctoral Fellow will develop agentic AI models and frameworks for intelligent experimental workflows, which couple machine learning, real-time data analysis, and tool-use APIs to automate complex decision-making across materials design, liquid-phase synthesis, and characterization platforms. Responsibilities include building agentic AI systems that can interpret multimodal data streams, interface with instrument control systems, and autonomously execute experimental tasks with minimal human intervention. The Postdoctoral Fellow will be responsible for both developing and deploying agentic AI systems in real laboratory environments, ensuring robust performance under real-world noise, uncertainty, and instrument variability.

The Postdoctoral Fellow will lead research in AI-driven and self-driving transmission electron microscopy (TEM) as part of the advanced materials characterization and autonomous discovery initiatives within the Texas Materials Institute (TMI) at The University of Texas at Austin. This position focuses on developing the next generation of intelligent electron microscopy systems that integrate machine learning, robotic control, and real-time data analysis to achieve autonomous imaging and interpretation of complex materials systems. The Fellow will design and execute experiments that advance the frontier of self-optimizing microscopy, including automated alignment, adaptive focusing, drift correction, and AI-assisted atomic structure recognition. The role involves building and training deep-learning models for TEM image reconstruction and interpretation, linking image features to local chemistry, defects, and dynamic transformations under varying environmental or beam conditions. The successful candidate will work closely with faculty and research staff to help establish TMI’s new AI-integrated microscopy hub as a national leader in self-driving electron microscopy.

This position will operate as a core part of a larger AI-robotic materials discovery program at TMI that couples liquid-phase synthesis, high-throughput sample processing, and autonomous characterization. The TEM postdoctoral fellow will collaborate with companion postdocs specializing in liquid-phase synthesis and thin-film formation, integrating structural characterization directly with compositional and processing data streams. A central aspect of this work will be to interface TEM workflows with the microdroplet printing system for high-throughput sample deposition onto TEM grids or micro-electrode arrays, enabling statistically rich structure–property correlations across thousands of printed materials. The Fellow will also contribute to the development of robotic sample preparation and automated sample-loading systems, including a robot arm-based TEM grid handling and holder-loading setup, to achieve continuous, unsupervised operation of the microscope. Working within this integrated ecosystem, the Fellow will help connect real-time TEM data to cloud-based digital twins and the broader AI framework controlling synthesis and electrochemical testing, creating a closed experimental–computational feedback loop for autonomous materials discovery.

This position will provide guidance and support for a research-practice partnership with a community-based organization that provides violence prevention programs in Central Texas Schools. The position will help to coordinate research activities for the project. The position will supervise project staff and ensure compliance and grant reporting. 

To conduct independent research in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences or the Institute for Geophysics (both part of the Jackson School of Geosciences).

This position will support NIH-funded studies investigating the cognitive and neural basis of primary progressive aphasia (PPA) as well as behavioral and neuromodulatory interventions to promote communication and quality of life.. 

The Department of Religious Studies at the University of Texas at Austin seeks to appoint a one-year postdoctoral fellow for the 2026-2027 academic year. We seek early career scholars with a specialization in Religion and Health. The fellow may specialize in any contemporary religious or secular tradition and any methodological approach. They will engage broadly in religious studies and secular studies through expertise on topics such as: Anthropocene studies; environmental health; artificial intelligence; bioethics; contemplative science; healing; medicine; science and technology studies; histories of science, religion, and atheism; death and dying, psychedelics; or public health.

The PassaH20 research group in the Maseeh Department of Civil, Architectural, and Environmental Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin and the Moodie research group at Texas A&M invite applications for a postdoctoral research scholar.

The Department of Religious Studies at the University of Texas at Austin seeks to appoint in Fall 2026 a two-year postdoctoral fellow affiliated with the Institute for the Study of Antiquity and Christian Origins (ISAC). We seek early career scholars with a specialization in Religion, Healing, and Magic in Late Antiquity. The fellow may have expertise in Ancient Christianity, Ancient Judaism, or Greco-Roman Religions, and may work from any relevant methodological approach. Their focus may include topics such as: alchemy; altered states of consciousness; anatomical votives; curses; demonology and spirit possession; disability; divinatory practices and ritual expertise; epidemiology; exorcism; dietary practices and fasting; gynecology and obstetrics; healers and physicians; healing sanctuaries, hospitals, and other spaces of healing; Hermetic traditions; Hippocratic traditions; magical bowls and incantations; medical philosophy and education; mental health and “madness”; pain management; pediatrics; pharmacology; prosthetics; and sexual health.