The University of Kentucky is seeking two highly qualified candidates for a Ph.D. 
position to lead the computational efforts underway at the university as part of 
the Computational Thermophysics and Fluids Laboratory (CTFL). The candidate will 
be part of an inter-disciplinary engineering group comprising of fourteen graduate 
students and get an opportunity to collaborate with faculty at the University of 
Colorado Boulder. You will be part of several publications, attend review and 
conference meetings, and interface with subject matter experts from various 
Federal agencies. 

Job Description
Two positions are available in the group. The first topic focuses on molecular 
dynamics simulations of gas-surface interactions. The second topic focuses on 
developing a gas-surface model for direct simulation Monte Carlo method with 
applications to very low Earth orbit (VLEO). Both positions are computational in 
nature, and a candidate is expected to have significant computational expertise 
with prior skills in developing codes written in C++ and/or Python or having 
worked with large-scale research codes that are developed in C or Fortran. 

This Ph.D. position is fully funded, which covers tuition, stipend, health, and 
fringe benefits. The CTFL lab provides a dynamic environment where you will work 
at the forefront of cutting-edge research. The research will provide opportunities 
to collaborate with partners at NASA, U.S. DoD, other national laboratories and 
research centers in U.S. and Europe. We will publish new research in top-tier 
journals in fluid and thermal sciences, attend annual conferences hosted by 
American Institute of Aerospace and Astronautics (AIAA), Rarefied Gas Dynamics 
(RGD), NASA and you may also have internship opportunities to develop a core peer 
and mentor network in your professional field. Personal growth is an important 
component of your academic training at CTFL, and the students spend 10% of 
research project time towards developing personal research ideas. 

Applications
Interested applicants should send a CV with a cover letter, names of at least 
three 
references, and a summary of recent work and interests. All applications should be 
submitted 
electronically as a single PDF document to saviopoovathingal@uky.edu 

For additional information about the research activities, visit
https://www.engr.uky.edu/directory/poovathingal-savio

Review of applications will begin immediately and continue until the position is 
filled.