Postodoctoral Fellow

About this position

• The Simons Collaboration on Extreme Electrodynamics of Compact Sources
• (SCEECS) is advertising several SCEECS Fellowships for postdoctoral
• researchers working in fields relevant to the collaboration. The
• positions will be for up to 3 years and will offer competitive
• salaries and benefits. Most appointments are anticipated to begin in
• the fall of 2027, though earlier start dates can be entertained, if
• appropriate.

• SCEECS is a multi-national, collaboration that focuses on the theory
• of neutron stars and black holes, building on recent astrophysical
• discoveries and upcoming experimental opportunities that confront
• classical and quantum electrodynamics with new challenges. With a
• highly synergistic research approach, we are addressing these
• challenges by following a methodology that is both “bottom up” and
• “top down” to span a vast range of length scales. These approaches
• involve the physics of collisionless relativistic plasmas (including
• in strong QED fields), relativistic magnetohydrodynamics and the
• physics of dense matter of relevance to the interior of neutron stars.
• We encourage candidates with expertise in any of these and neighboring
• physics subfields to apply. The new postdoctoral researchers will be
• able to join ongoing projects within the collaboration and develop
• their own, original, research programs.

• The Principal Investigators and Co-Principal Investigators
• collaborating on SCEECS are Roger Blandford (rdb3@stanford.edu),
• Director, and Sasha Philippov (sashaph@stanford.edu), Deputy Director,
• Stanford; Richard Anantua (richard.anantua@utsa.edu), U Texas, San
• Antonio; Matt Caplan (mecapl1@ilstu.edu), Illinois State; Ke Fang (kefang@physics.wisc.edu)
• and Ellen Zweibel (egzweibel@wisc.edu), U. Wisconsin; Noémie Globus (globus@astro.unam.mx),
• UNAM-Institute of Astronomy, Ensenada; Sam Gralla (sgralla@email.arizona.edu),
• Arizona; Andrei Beloborodov (amb2046@columbia.edu), Yuri Levin (yl3470@columbia.edu)
• and Lorenzo Sironi (lsironi@astro.columbia.edu), Columbia; Amir
• Levinson (levinson@tauex.tau.ac.il), Tel Aviv; Tsvi Piran (tsvi.piran@mail.huji.ac.il),
• Hebrew University; Chris Thompson (thompson@cita.utoronto.ca) and Bart
• Ripperda (ripperda@cita.utoronto.ca), U. Toronto; Eliot Quataert (quataert@princeton.edu)
• and Anatoly Spitkovsky (anatoly@astro.princeton.edu), Princeton; and
• Yajie Yuan, Washington University at St Louis (yajiey@wustl.edu).
• Applications made in response to this advertisement, as well as those
• made through the institutions of collaborating investigators that
• designate SCEECS, will be considered by the entire collaboration.

• Candidates for these positions should have, or expect to receive, a
• Ph.D. in astronomy or physics prior to starting their appointment.
• They should provide a curriculum vitae, including a publication list
• and a 3-page statement of research interests and plans, and arrange to
• have three letters of recommendation submitted. In addition,
• applicants should indicate the preferred institutions to hold a
• fellowship. Upon consultation with a successful candidate, some
• appointments will be held at more than one institution. We also
• encourage applicants to follow the structure of the AAS advice on the
• content of CVs and research statements given here:
• https://jobregister.aas.org/postdoc-application-guidelines

• The deadline for applications, through AcademicJobsOnline, is November
• 15, 2026. Late applications will be considered at the discretion of
• the search committee. More information about SCEECS can be found at
• https://www.simonsceecs.com/

Informal enquiries about these positions can be directed to

simonsceecs@stanford.edu.