Western Washington University, with over 14,500 students in seven colleges and the graduate school, is nationally recognized for its educational programs, students and faculty. The campus is located in Bellingham, Washington, a coastal community of 90,000 overlooking Bellingham Bay, the San Juan Islands and the North Cascades Mountain range. The city lies 90 miles north of Seattle and 60 miles south of Vancouver, British Columbia. Western is the highest-ranking public, master's-granting university in the Pacific Northwest, according to the 2022 U.S. News & World Report rankings.

Western Washington University is committed to achieving excellence through advancing inclusive success, increasing our Washington impact, and focusing on transformational education grounded in the liberal arts and sciences and based on innovative scholarship, research, and creative activity. Western's greatest strength is the outstanding students, faculty, staff, and alumni/ae who make up its community. Western supports an inclusive governance structure for all and provides a learning and working environment in which everyone can thrive. In pursuit of this excellence, individual employees are expected to establish and maintain productive and effective inclusive working relationships amongst diverse populations including staff, faculty, administration, student, and external constituents. Further, individual employees are expected to have the ability to operationalize sustainability concepts (economic, societal, environmental) into all aspects of performing their job duties.

The Department of Physics and Astronomy is comprised of 16 full-time faculty and 73 undergraduate physics majors. Physics B.S. and Math/Physics B.A.Ed. degrees are offered in addition to minor degrees in both physics and astronomy. In recent years, the department has placed increased emphasis on providing meaningful research opportunities for its majors, including hiring new tenure-track faculty committed to undergraduate research. Members of the department are also active in the development of new educational materials and innovative teaching methods. The common vision shared within the department is to make the WWU Department of Physics and Astronomy the most outstanding undergraduate program of its kind in the nation.

The department and college are committed to creating equitable and inclusive learning and working environments for their students, faculty and staff. A number of faculty-led initiatives and committees focus on diversity and inclusivity in the classroom and beyond. New faculty are supported by mentoring both within the department and through university-wide initiatives, and individual faculty involvement in the Faculty Success Program has recently been supported by our department. Student clubs such as SACNAS, Physicists for Inclusion in STEM (PhIS), and Out in Science are also vital to advancing inclusion within the college.

Detailed information is available for the Department of Physics and Astronomy at http://www.wwu.edu/physics.

The position is for a postdoctoral research associate in theoretical and computational condensed matter physics anticipated to begin in Winter 2024.

The postdoc will assist Dr. Armin Rahmani from WWU and Dr. Jian-Xin Zhu from Los Alamos National Laboratory with analytical studies and numerical simulations of interacting Majorana fermions. They will also work on writing manuscripts to disseminate the results. The areas of interest are investigations of interactions between vortex-bound Majorana zero modes arising in vortex lattices in topological materials, phase diagrams of various lattice models with Majorana building blocks, associated studies of the nonequilibrium dynamics of these models, transport signatures of quantum impurity problems involving Majorana zero modes, and the simulation of interacting Majoranas on quantum devices. The research will utilize theories of superconductivity and strong correlations, numerical methods such as the density-matrix renormalization group (DMRG) and fermionic neural-network variational methods, quantum simulations on quantum processors such as IBM Q, and field theory techniques including bosonization and conformal field theory.

This is a 2 year position, with possible extension to a third year depending on performance and funds availability.

Duties will include:

• Perform simulations of interacting Majorana models
• Perform analytical investigations and modeling of interacting Majorana fermions
• Contribute to writing manuscripts to disseminate the results

• Ph. D. in physics or closely related fields.
• Strong record of peer-reviewed publications.
• Research experience in theoretical or computational quantum condensed matter physics
• Excellent numerical and computational skills.
• Familiarity with strongly correlated electrons and topological phases.
• Good communication skills.

• Demonstrated commitment to cultivating equitable and inclusive learning and working environments for students, faculty, and staff.
• Experience with nonequilibrium quantum dynamics.
• Experience with DMRG computations.
• Familiarity with quantum-computing devices such as IBM-Q.

Salary

Position salary is $58,000. Salary increases will be provided in accordance with the collective bargaining agreement, including a 4.5% increase effective September 16, 2024.

Bargaining Unit

United Faculty of Western Washington

Application Instructions

Applications must include (1) a cover letter addressing your experience related to the position's responsibilities and the required and preferred qualifications. In particular, the cover letter allows you to discuss qualifications such as contributions to equity and diversity that may not be reflected in your research statement. (2) a research statement addressing your research plans, expertise, and accomplishments. (3) a curriculum vitae that includes your complete publication list, and (4) the names, addresses, e-mail addresses, and telephone numbers of three professional references. Three letters of recommendation are required and will be automatically requested from your references following the submission of your application. All application materials must be uploaded at http://www.wwu.edu/jobs.

Application review begins November 22, 2023; position is open until filled.

Western Washington University (WWU) is an equal opportunity and affirmative action employer committed to assembling a diverse, broadly trained faculty and staff. Women, minorities, people with disabilities and veterans are strongly encouraged to apply. In compliance with applicable laws and in furtherance of its commitment to fostering an environment that welcomes and embraces diversity, WWU does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, creed, religion, national origin, sex (including pregnancy and parenting status), disability, age, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, marital status or genetic information in its programs or activities, including employment, admissions, and educational programs. See WWU’s Policy on Ensuring Equal Opportunity and Prohibiting Discrimination and Retaliation. Inquiries may be directed to the Office of Civil Rights and Title IX Compliance, Title IX and ADA Coordinator, Western Washington University, Old Main 126 (MS 9021), 516 High Street, Bellingham, WA 98225; 360.650.3307 (voice) or 711 (Washington Relay); crtc@wwu.edu

WWU is committed to providing reasonable accommodations to qualified individuals with disabilities upon request. To request this document in an alternate format or to request an accommodation, please contact Human Resources Disability Services, 360.650.3303 or 711 (Washington Relay).

Annual Security and Fire Safety Report: This report is provided pursuant to the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act ("The Clery Act"). It includes statistics for the previous three calendar years concerning reported crimes that occurred on Western's campus; in certain off-campus buildings or property owned or controlled by Western; and on public property within, or immediately adjacent to and accessible from, the campus. The report also includes institutional policies concerning campus security, such as policies concerning alcohol and drug use, crime prevention, the reporting of crimes, sexual assault, and other matters. You can obtain a copy of this report in printed or alternate formats by contacting the Office of the Vice President for Enrollment and Student Services at vpsa.office@wwu.edu. The report can be found at: Annual Security and Fire Safety Report.

All new employees must comply with the immunization policy and show employment eligibility verification as required by the U.S. Citizen and Immigration Service before beginning work at WWU. A thorough background check will be conducted on all new hires and rehires, which includes a sexual misconduct background check.