Openings

Research Center Project Manager:

The School of Engineering and Applied Science at the University of Virginia is seeking a Project Manager that provides project management and operational leadership to a newly established multidisciplinary research center, ensuring research initiatives, collaborations, and sponsored projects are executed efficiently and aligned with the strategic objectives of all stakeholders. This role works closely with faculty, researchers, administrative staff, external partners, and funding agencies to manage a complex research project, monitor budgets, track milestones, and support center operations.  Research at the center is focused on supercomputer simulations of extreme conditions experienced by hypersonic vehicles and quantifying the uncertainty.

Responsibilities:

• Project Management: Develop detailed project plans, timelines, and deliverables for research projects and initiatives; coordinate with faculty, graduate students, and external collaborators to ensure milestones are met; monitor project progress, identify risks, and implement mitigation strategies.
• Operations & Center Support: Support the center director and affiliated faculty in pursuing new research opportunities; assist in reviewing partner universities and coordinate the review process with stakeholders; organize workshops, seminars, and outreach activities and ensure compliance with institutional and funding agency requirements and maintain effective knowledge and resource management systems. Manage day-to-day operations and lead Center-wide meetings.
• Financial & Grant Oversight: Assist in budget preparation and track research grants and contracts; manage budgets, expenditures, and cost forecasting; ensure compliance with university policies and sponsor requirements; work with pre-award and post-award offices to support proposal submission and reporting.
• Communication & Reporting: Prepare reports, presentations, and summaries for stakeholders and funding agencies; facilitate effective communication among project teams, departments, and external partners.

Minimum Qualifications:

• US Citizenship.
• Master’s degree in a related field (Engineering, Science, Business, or similar).
• 5 years relevant experience with a minimum of 3 years of project management experience, preferably in an academic or research environment.
• Familiarity with research processes, grant management, and compliance.
• Strong organizational and analytical skills.
• Excellent written and verbal communication abilities.
• Proficiency with project management tools (e.g., MS Project, Smartsheet, or equivalent) and Microsoft Office Suite.

Preferred Qualifications:

• PhD degree in a relevant field.
• PMP (Project Management Professional) certification or equivalent.
• Experience working in a university research center or managing sponsored research projects.
• Experience in high-performance computing or computational research.
• Familiarity with federal grant regulations (DOE, NSF, NIH, etc.).

About the Position:

The Project Manager will report to the Center Director Dr. Xinfeng Gao. This is a full-time in-person position, regular in-person attendance at meetings and events will be required throughout the year.  The Project Manager is a member of the Center leadership, will have significant independence and authority to execute operations, and must exhibit strong professionalism.  Candidates should demonstrate skills and experience commensurate with these expectations.  Travel is required once per year to attend program review meetings.

The position's start date is September 1st, 2025, and the starting base salary is in the range $90,000 to $110,000.

This is a one-year appointment; however, the appointment may be renewed, contingent upon available external funding and satisfactory performance.

This is an exempt level, benefited position. For more information on the benefits at UVA, visit hr.virginia.edu/benefits. The University will perform background checks on all new hires prior to employment. This position will not sponsor applicants for work visas. This is a Restricted (term-limited) position.

To Apply:

Please apply through the UVA job board https://jobs.virginia.edu/us and search for R0074569. Internal applicants must apply through their UVA Workday profile by searching 'Find Jobs'. Complete an application online with the following documents:

• Resume/CV
• Cover letter to include your interest in the position and your applicable knowledge, skills, abilities, and experiences

Upload all materials into the resume submission field, multiple documents can be submitted into this one field. Alternatively, merge all documents into one PDF for submission. Applications that do not contain all the required documents will not receive full consideration.

References will be completed via UVA’s standardized process Skill Survey. A total of five references will be requested via Skill Survey during the final phase of the interview process. For questions about the application process, please contact Daniel Strong, Senior Academic Recruiter, at das6zb@virginia.edu.

Research Scientist:

The School of Engineering and Applied Science at the University of Virginia is seeking qualified candidates for a Research Scientist position in a newly established multidisciplinary research center.  Research at the Center is focused on supercomputer simulations of extreme conditions experienced by hypersonic vehicles and quantifying the overall uncertainty.  The candidate will assume the role of a software developer in the Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) and Propulsion Laboratory, a participating lab in the Center. The research scientist will be responsible for the development and maintenance of predictive software components, support integration into the full system, and assist with full-system testing and analysis. The candidate can expect to work with a multidisciplinary and multi-university team involving engineers, computer scientists, and mathematicians constructing a full-system package comprising predictive software, data analytics, and machine learning.  The candidate will work closely with and report to the Software Architect of the research Center led by Dr. Xinfeng Gao.

As a software developer, the candidate must work closely with the Software Architect in developing and implementing plans for integrating software libraries performing I/O, adaptive mesh-refinement, data assimilation, and AI/ML in a manner that supports the participation of postdocs and graduate students. The candidate may be expected to supervise other postdocs and mentor PhD students in aspects of software development and usage.

Qualification Requirements: 

The candidate must have a Master’s or a PhD degree in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, or another related field by the start date.  2-5 years of research experience in computational engineering after obtaining the PhD degree is preferred. The candidate must be able to demonstrate a deep knowledge of supercomputing software development for massively-parallel computer architectures, and expertise in working with large-scale software designed for cutting-edge engineering applications.   Additional requirements include proficiency with C++ and parallel programming models, experience developing complex simulation software as part of a multidisciplinary team, familiarity with best practices in software engineering, and efficacy at communicating and planning with computer-facility technical staff. Experience with algorithms for hydrodynamic-scale CFD or kinetic-scale particle methods such as Direct simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) is preferred. This position requires the candidate to be a U.S. person.

The salary and benefits offered will be commensurate with the experience and qualifications of the candidates.  The anticipated salary range is $90,000 to $100,000.

Application Procedure: 

Apply online at https://jobs.virginia.edu/us and search for R0074540. Attach a cover letter, a curriculum vitae, and contact information for three references.  Please note that multiple documents can be uploaded in the box.

Application deadline: 

Review of applications will begin on August 20, 2025, but the position will remain open until filled. The University will perform background checks on all new hires prior to employment.

This is a one-year appointment, and the appointment may be renewed contingent upon available funding and satisfactory performance.

Questions regarding this position should be directed to Professor Xinfeng Gao (x.gao@virginia.edu).

For questions about the application process, please contact Richard Haverstrom, Academic Recruiter, at rkh6j@virginia.edu.

PhD Positions:

The CFD & Propulsion Laboratory is focused on developing advanced CFD algorithms and deploying them on the latest architectures. The selected candidate will work in a team environment to develop solution methods to complex engineering challenges, and they will have the opportunity to collaborate with multidisciplinary researchers from national labs and to intern in the national labs during the course of research. Research topics may require U.S. citizenship. We have several openings for PhD students in the following research topics:

1. Integrating Moving Embedded Boundary and Mapped Multiblock Techniques with Adaptive Mesh Refinement for High-Order CFD Algorithms

2. Parallel-in-Time CFD Algorithms

3. Integrating Data Assimilation and Deep Learning for CFD

4. Stochastic Uncertainty Quantification for Predictive Capability Assessment  

5. Development of Quantum Algorithms for Boltzmann equation

Nature and Scope of Positions:

The research scope for each position is developing technologies for moving and overlapping grids for fourth-order algorithms with adaptive mesh refinement, developing and applying space-time parallel algorithms, integrating HPC with data analytics, and exploring quantum algorithms for CFD, respectively.

Each position is best suited for a student who is adept at math, has a strong interest in highly logistical programming, keeps abreast of new computing architectures, and is passionate about aerospace engineering. Applications should include a demonstration of this interest; examples might include software development through work or studies, or hobbies such as programming games. The selected candidate will be funded throughout the PhD study.

Essential Skills, Knowledge, and Abilities:

• B.S./M.S. in Aerospace Sciences & Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Computer science, or Applied mathematics
• Background in CFD, computational methods, or scientific computing
• Strong and demonstrated interest in programming
• Experience in the development of numerical algorithms for partial differential equations is highly desired
• Interpersonal communication skills necessary to work effectively in a team environment
• Good technical writing and oral presentation skills in English

Desired Skills, Knowledge, and Abilities:

• Knowledge of CFD and programming experience in C++ and Fortran
• Experience with parallel technologies including MPI, shared-memory programming models (OpenMP, POSIX threads), vector processors (SSE, AVX), and accelerators (Cuda, OpenCL)
• Experience with the design, implementation, deployment, and maintenance of software
• Experience with HPC systems and Linux
• Experience with scientific computing applications