Free Scholarship Info

PhD student position in air quality modeling in Switzerland

The Paul Scherrer Institut is a centre for multi-disciplinary research and
one of the world's leading user laboratories. With its 1200 employees it
belongs as an autonomous institution to the Swiss ETH domain and
concentrates its activities on solid-state research and material sciences,
elementary particle and astrophysics, energy and environmental research as
well as on biology and medicine.

The Laboratory of Atmospheric Chemistry (LAC) is engaged in air quality and
climate research by field studies, smog chamber experiments and chemical
transport models.


We are offering a*** PhD Student* position in the field of*** Air quality
modeling*
The chemical composition of particulate matter was recently measured and
analyzed in several field campaigns at different locations in unprecedented
detail. This provides a unique opportunity to evaluate 3-dimensional
photochemical models including emissions, meteorological transport, gasphase
and aerosol chemistry. The challenges are on the one hand to get the
boundary layer meteorological processes right on the other hand to get the
emissions right. Recent research has shown that one also needs to revisit
the assumptions concerning the formation processes leading to secondary
organic aerosols.

The project will focus on aerosol formation processes in Switzerland and
Europe. An intensive collaboration is planned with another PhD student
focusing on meteorology and with a Canadian research group. A competitive
Salary will be available.

*Your tasks***

- Use the meteorological models MM5 and/or the Alpine Model (aLMo) in
combination with the chemical transport model CAMx in various
configurations

- Improve the gaseous emissions, e.g. concerning biogenic
sesqui-terpene emissions
- Improve the primary aerosol emissions (especially from
domestic wood burning)
- Use and/or develop new schemes to represent the secondary
organic aerosol formation in an appropriate manner (2)
- Test and evaluate the model versus various available and new
data sets
- Present the results at workshops, conferences and in
peer-reviewed journals

*Your profile***

You have a master/diploma degree in atmospheric science, meteorology,
physics, chemistry or environmental science. Ideally, you already have some
experience in meteorological or air quality modeling. Programming and
computer skills are crucial. Good communication skills in English are
required and in German beneficial.

*We are looking forward to your application*

Sebnem Andreani and André Prévôt
Paul Scherrer Institut
Laboratory of Atmospheric Chemistry
CH- 5232 Villigen-PSI
Switzerland

Please send your application to:
*sebnem.andreani@psi.ch*

*http://lac.web.psi.ch/*

No Comment | Posted in » Location Switzerland, PostDoc Scholarship