Applications Programmer 3

Department Summary

Welcome to the Department of Earth, Planetary, and Space Sciences (EPSS) at UCLA. Our mission is to understand Earth and our surrounding solar system, as well as extrasolar planets and the star systems that host them. EPSS continues to provide new insights about the processes that formed our universe and that continue to shape its evolution. Our department is committed to advancing rigorous scientific discovery, multimodal education, and impactful STEAM outreach. We are proud to have a department culture based on respect, collaboration, and openness to new ideas and methodologies.

Position Summary

The Thermal Modeling Programmer provides thermal modeling support for asteroids and other potentially hazardous objects to Earth detected by the Near-Earth Object (NEO) Surveyor mission. During the Mission Implementation Phase (CD) before launch, the incumbent works with the PI, survey scientists, and project partner institutions to develop, implement, test, and verify survey operation tools that will be used to solve for diameters and related physical properties, including estimated errors, of NEOs identified as potentially hazardous to Earth. After launch and during mission operations the programmer will utilize the developed and mature thermal modeling tools to calculate diameters, albedos and other physical properties of objects detected by NEO Surveyor. Programmer will also prepare physical property fits for archiving in NASA’s Planetary Data System (PDS). The programmer has demonstrated expertise with Python and a working fluency with other programming languages including C, C++ and FORTRAN. Incumbent develops and troubleshoots analysis tools alongside personnel at UCLA and NEO Surveyor partner institutions JPL, Caltech / IPAC, SDL, LASP and BAE Systems. Thermophysical modeling of existing asteroid data is used to determine rotation poles, thermal inertias, flux densities as a function of wavelength, and other properties to increase the number of calibrator objects available. Models are iteratively updated and their fidelity increased as more calibrator data become available. They are iteratively tested to ensure the survey operations will meet Level 1 and all other survey requirements. A diverse breadth of experience with numerical modeling and observational data reduction of large data sets is required.

Salary & Compensation

• UCLA provides a full pay range. Actual salary offers consider factors, including budget, prior experience, skills, knowledge, abilities, education, licensure and certifications, and other business considerations. Salary offers at the top of the range are not common. Visit UC Benefit package to discover benefits that start on day one, and UC Total Compensation Estimator to calculate the total compensation value with benefits.

Qualifications

Education, Licenses, Certifications & Personal Affiliations

Special Conditions for Employment

Schedule

8 am - 5 pm

Union / Policy Covered

99-Policy Covered

Complete Position Description

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