Research Scientist II, Step 1-4

Job no

504212

Department

Earth System Science Center

Work type

Staff Full-time Exempt

Location

Alabama

Categories

Research - Environmental

Purpose of the Position

The EarthRISE Project Office, within the Lab for Applied Science (LAS) under the Earth System Science Center (ESSC), is seeking a highly motivated Research Scientist with strong expertise in agricultural remote sensing, geospatial artificial intelligence, and applied decision-support tool development. A successful candidate will lead and execute applied research leveraging Earth observations to address complex, real-world challenges in agricultural monitoring, crop production systems, land management, conservation practices, drought-related agricultural risk, crop-water applications, and agricultural decision-making. This role requires strong domain expertise in agricultural applications, utilizing advanced remote sensing, modeling, and geospatial data science approaches to develop actionable information products for operational and stakeholder use. The ideal candidate will bring strong agricultural remote sensing foundations, creative problem-solving skills, and the ability to design scalable approaches for large-area agricultural monitoring. Additionally, the candidate may work with multi-source Earth observation datasets, including moderate-, high-, and very high-resolution public and commercial satellite data. A geospatial data expert who can apply sophisticated AI/ML techniques directly to Earth science and spatial datasets is sought rather than an AI/ML generalist.

Operating within Earth Action, the EarthRISE project office focuses on developing last-mile solutions, improving coordinated action across NASA Earth Science, and fostering workforce development. EarthRISE develops applied Earth observation solutions that support state, local, tribal, territorial, federal, and private-sector decision-makers across