Computational Physicist - Fluid Dynamics

Responsibilities

Multi-Material & Radiation Hydrodynamics Modeling

• Implement and improve multi-material modeling approaches (e.g., interface tracking/capturing, mixture models, or related techniques).

• Support coupling of hydrodynamics with radiation transport and other relevant physics modules for various equation of state and opacity models.

• Assist in developing robust algorithms for extreme thermodynamic and flow regimes relevant to ICF.

Numerical Methods & Theoretical Development

• Develop and analyze certifiably robust, invariant-domain preserving (IDP) numerical methods for computational fluid dynamics with emphasis on multi-material flows.

• Contribute to mathematical modeling for multi-material systems relevant to inertial confinement fusion.

• Support development of radiation hydrodynamics formulations, discretizations, and stabilization strategies.

• Investigate accuracy, stability, and convergence properties of numerical schemes.

• Contribute to solving complex inverse and forward problems in high-energy-density physics.

Verification, Validation & Scientific Rigor

• Collaborate with Xcimer's verification and validation function to validate multi-material numerics, contributing domain expertise on expected physical behavior.

• Contribute multi-material test problems and physical judgment to the shared benchmark suite.

• Help ensure multi-material results are reproducible and scientifically credible, in partnership with the team that owns V&V methodology.

Communication & Collaboration

• Collaborate closely with physicists, applied mathematicians, and software engineers.

• Contribute to internal technical documentation and external scientific publications.

• Present findings in technical meetings and contribute to peer-reviewed journal articles and conference papers.

Qualifications

• Education: Ph.D. in Mathematics (preferred), Applied Mathematics, Computational Physics, or a closely related field, with a focus on numerical methods for fluid dynamics.
• Strong background in numerical analysis for PDEs, particularly for fluid dynamics.
• Hands-on experience with invariant-domain preserving (IDP) methods or comparable certifiably robust discretization frameworks for hyperbolic/compressible flow.
• Experience with finite element methods and hands-on development using deal.II (strongly preferred) or similar frameworks.
• Experience developing scientific software in C++.
• Experience working in high-performance computing environments (MPI-based parallelism and large-scale simulations).
• Familiarity with multi-material modeling techniques in CFD.
• Experience with verification and validation of numerical methods.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, with demonstrated ability to contribute to scientific publications.
• Must be a U.S. citizen or national, U.S. permanent resident (current Green Card holder), or lawfully admitted into the U.S. as a refugee or granted asylum.

Desired

• Background in radiation hydrodynamics, high-energy-density physics, or related multi-physics domains.
• Experience with mathematical modeling for multi-material compressible flows.
• Experience coupling hydrodynamics with radiation transport.
• Experience contributing to large, research-grade scientific codebases.
• Demonstrated ability to balance theoretical rigor with practical computational implementation.