Arctic Cities

Arctic communities face many challenges as they grow and develop in the context of a rapidly changing environment. These challenges include coastal erosion, permafrost thaw, and ecosystem change. Arctic cities need to prepare for critical decisions in the future, which traditional scientific approaches alone are unable to address adequately. Instead, an interdisciplinary, community-based approach is necessary. Utqiagvik, the northernmost urban center in Alaska, is facing many of these common challenges and provides a model for other Arctic cities.

This postdoctoral position will have several responsibilities within the Arctic Research Center at the University of Virginia under the direct supervision of Professor Epstein:

1) The postdoc will contribute to an NSF research project regarding the implementation and utilization of a terrestrial micro-meteorological sensor network in the community of Utqiagvik, Alaska to assess how components of the built environment affect local conditions and the stability of permafrost. Understanding the Changing Natural-Built Landscape in an Arctic Community: An Integrated Sensor Network in Utqiagvik, Alaska | ARCUS.  2) The postdoc will have some project management responsibilities within the UVA Arctic Research Center.  3) The postdoc will have opportunities to teach or contribute to courses on Arctic systems.  4) The postdoc will have the flexibility to incorporate their own research ideas into existing UVA Arctic Research Center projects.

The ultimate goal of the project is to understand how the natural and built environments interact with social systems in an Arctic city.