King Abdullah University of Science and Technology: Postdoc Positions: Physical Science and Engineering Division (postdoc)
Location
King Abdullah University of Science and Technology | Thuwal | KSA
Open Date
Feb 25, 2026
Description
The DeepWave industry-funded consortium is looking for two outstanding postdoctoral researchers to undertake impactful research on the development and application of cutting-edge machine (deep) learning numerical methods for wave-equation-based processing, imaging, and inversion.
Wave phenomena are ubiquitous in science, and they extend to objectives ranging from global Earth discovery, to natural resources exploration, to subsurface monitoring, as well as nondestructive testing and medical imaging. However, our current ability to create detailed images of the interior of such bodies from remote measurements and accurately invert for physical properties often lacks the accuracy and resolution we seek for making informed decisions. Both shortcomings are usually attributed to the limitations in our measurements and in the underlying physical models. Machine learning (ML) techniques can be exploited to identify common patterns in the data and augment the physical laws of wave propagation, leading in turn to improvements accuracy and resolution.
The selected candidate will join the research group of Prof. Tariq Alkhalifah within the Earth Systems Science and Engineering (ESSE) program at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Saudi Arabia, and will work closely with other group members. The candidate will be expected to develop novel methodologies, validate their effectiveness using field data, and contribute to scaling these approaches to real-world applications in one or more of the following areas:
- Machine-learning-assisted subsurface characterization and monitoring
- Distributed Acoustic Sensing (DAS) data processing and compression using ML
- Physics-driven machine learning for geophysical modeling and inversion
Further details can be found at: https://deepwave.kaust.edu.sa/research
Thus, the candidate is expected to have or about to have a PhD in a relevant topic, that includes geophysics, mathematics, physics, computer science or any related topics with a track record in relevant applications (processing, imaging and inversion).
In addition to initiating, developing, and delivering high-quality research, collaborate with students, the candidate will be expected to publish in leading peer-reviewed journals, present at international conferences, and contribute to improving the quality and efficiency of the consortium code base. Preference will be given to candidates with a strong publication record and proven experience in Python programming, source code versioning and management, machine and deep learning, as well as a solid understanding of wave phenomena and geophysical data analysis and imaging.
Qualifications
Basic Qualifications:
- A Ph.D. in Computational Geophysics, Computer Science, Applied Mathematics or similar field;
- Portfolio of relevant publications;
- Good programming skills in Python and proficiency in Torch and/or JAX;
- Proficiency in written and spoken English.
Differentiating Qualifications:
- Expertise in the development of seismic processing algorithms, high-performance computing, and/or large-scale inverse problems;
- Experience in developing open-source software and a track record in collaborative software development.
Application Instructions
Applications can be submitted by clicking on the "Apply Now" button.
Fields: Applied Mathematics, Geophysics, Computational Physics, Artificial Intelligence, Parallel Computing, and 2 more, Machine Learning, Computational Sciences
