Postdoctoral Scholar, UAV and Lidar Data Collection

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**Postdoctoral Scholar, UAV and Lidar Data Collection**

Northern Arizona University

****Special Information****

• This position is an on-site position which requires the incumbent to
  
  

complete their work primarily at an NAU site, campus, or facility

with or without accommodation. Opportunities for remote work are

rare.

• This position is subject to the availability of funding.
• Driving a vehicle on behalf of the university is anticipated to be a
  
  

regular part of this position. Arizona Administrative Code Fleet

Safety Policy requires all employees who drive on university

business become authorized by submitting Driver\'s license

information for driving record monitoring, and completion of

training appropriate to the level of driving performed. The law

applies to all faculty, staff, and students who drive personal or

university-owned motorized vehicles for any business purpose. More

information on the NAU Authorized Driver Policy can be found on the

NAU website.

• Due to this project\'s funding source, this position is open only to
  
  

U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents (green card holders).

• The position may require handling Controlled Unclassified
  
  

Information (CUI) in accordance with sponsor and university

data-security requirements. Work on this project may involve

technical data, hardware, or software subject to U.S. export control

regulations, including the Export Administration Regulations (EAR)

and the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR); the

incumbent must be able to comply with applicable export control

requirements and with any project-specific technology control plan.

****About the Department/College****

The Radiant Center for Remote Sensing, in partnership with the Remote

Sensing and Geoinformatics (RSG) Lab in the Steve Sanghi College of

Engineering at Northern Arizona University, seeks a Postdoctoral

Research Associate to serve as lead technical researcher on a sponsored

research project focused on UAV and terrestrial lidar data collection to

create digital twins of forested study sites in northern Arizona.

This is one of several concurrent postdoctoral scholar recruitments at

Radiant Center, and the successful candidate will collaborate closely

with fellow postdoctoral researchers and faculty working simultaneously

on related projects.

**About the Position**

The project includes a gradient of forested study sites with

increasingly complex vegetation and terrain, which will be imaged and

modelled by the postdoctoral research associate using existing UAV and

terrestrial lidar scanners in the RSG Lab. Each study site will be

imaged with a terrestrial lidar scanner to create digital twins of the

understory vegetation and terrain and UAV sensors to model the overstory

canopy. The postdoctoral research associate will fuse the two datasets

to create a complete point cloud of the forested sites. The postdoctoral

research associate will then lead and collaborate with other team

members to turn the point cloud into solid models for UAV swarm

simulations. The postdoctoral research associate will work

collaboratively with a team of postdoctoral researchers and faculty

working on various other aspects of the project and will contribute to

technical reporting and manuscript preparation. The position is based in

Flagstaff, AZ.

This position requires extensive fieldwork, including UAV flights across

Flagstaff-area terrain ranging from desert and canyon country to

ponderosa pine, mixed conifer forest, and alpine tundra (spanning close

to 8,000 feet of elevation change within about an hour of campus), as

well as occasional overnight or multi-day travel for more istant field

campaigns and for conference travel. The position may require occasional

overtime, particularly around field campaigns and sponsor reporting

deadlines.

**Responsibilities Include**

55% - UAV and Lidar Data Collection and Data Fusion for Full Point

Clouds

• Image each study area with terrestrial lidar.
• Image each study area with UAV sensor and create SfM point cloud.
• Fuse understory and overstory point clouds.
• Convert point clouds to solid forest models.
  
  

20% - Identify Five Study Sites with Increasing Vegetation and Terrain

Complexity

• Lead field site visits, ranking, and suitability analysis for UAV
  
  

operations and lidar data collection

15% - Dissemination, Reporting & Travel

• Prepare technical reports and milestone updates for project
  
  

sponsors.

• Author and co-author peer-reviewed manuscripts and conference
  
  

presentations.

• Travel to attend and present research findings at scientific
  
  

conferences, and travel to field sites to support data collection.)

5% - Team Supervision & Mentoring

• Help mentor graduate students in research methods, technical
  
  

development, and professional growth.

5% - Other

• Perform other duties as assigned in support of lab and project
  
  

needs.

Minimum Qualifications**\