Virginia Tech is a public land-grant university, committed to teaching and learning, research, and outreach to the Commonwealth of Virginia, the nation, and the world. Building on its motto of Ut Prosim (that I may serve), Virginia Tech is dedicated to InclusiveVT-serving in the spirit of community, diversity, and excellence. We seek candidates who adopt and practice the Principles of Community, which are fundamental to our on-going efforts to increase access and inclusion, and to create a community that nurtures learning and growth for all of its members. Virginia Tech actively seeks a broad spectrum of candidates to join our community in preparing leaders for the world.

Position Summary:
The Physics Department at Virginia Tech invites applications for a postdoctoral associate position in statistical physics focusing on theoretical and computational investigations of the control of critical dynamics in complex systems. This position is funded through a US Army Research Office award. The objective is to build on a powerful and highly successful theory for non-linear stochastic dynamics of cooperative multi-component systems, namely critical dynamics, and develop novel efficient protocols for (1) steering multi-critical complex interacting dynamical systems toward certain desired universal scaling behavior; (2) externally controlling the strength of stochastic fluctuations and intrinsic noise in systems that are driven far from thermal equilibrium and display generic scale invariance; (3) selectively targeting and stabilizing specific self-generated spatio-temporal patterns in strongly fluctuating reaction- diffusion systems and epidemic models.
This research will be conducted with PIs Uwe C. T uber and Michel Pleimling and their graduate students at Virginia Tech, and in collaboration with co-PI P.S. Krishnaprasad at the University of Maryland. Cooperation and interaction with other faculty members, postdocs, and students in the Condensed Matter Theory group and our Center for Soft Matter and Biological Physics (www.phys.vt.edu/ CSMBP ) would be strongly encouraged.

Required Qualifications:
A Ph.D. in statistical physics, condensed matter theory, or a closely related field is required.

Preferred Qualifications:
A preference for a strong background in critical phenomena, stochastic dynamics, and/or control theory. We seek candidates with proven versatility in analytic calculations as well as numerical analysis and/or computer simulations, and excellent scientific writing and oral communication skills.



To apply please click here!