University of Chicago

Position Title/Short Description

Full Text of JOE Listing:

The MFR Program, led by Professor Lars Peter Hansen, invites applicants for a prestigious postdoctoral position with substantive interests in economic dynamics, environmental economics and uncertainty for the 2021-2022 academic year.

Applicants must have completed the requirements for the Ph.D. in applied mathematics, economics or finance with a strong interest in computation, economic dynamics, finance and/or environmental economics. by June 30, 2021 and must not have held the degree for more than three years by that date. They may not be employed by another institution during the term of their University of Chicago appointment.

The term of appointment is one year, normally beginning July 1, 2021, with the expectation of renewal for one further year assuming good performance. Applicants are expected to be in residence for the duration of the appointment. The University of Chicago offers competitive salary and employee benefits.

Application materials should be submitted by December 31, 2020 to Diana Petrova (dpetrova@uchicago.edu). The selection committee will begin reviewing applications in early 2021 and early applications are encouraged, as a decision will be made once a great candidate is found. A final decision will be made by March 1, 2021.

Application materials:
1) Current curriculum vitae;
2) Brief description of the current research;
3) Short statement that outlines the areas of economic dynamics, environmental economics and uncertainty that are of primary interest;
4) Three letters of reference;
5) Summary of research project or projects to be explored;
6) One or more papers completed in graduate school, including any related to the dissertation.

Candidate should have strong interests in applying state-of-the-art computational methods for solving and analyzing dynamic economic models and experience in programming and the use of computational methods. There will be opportunities for collaborations on frontier research projects that address important substantive questions including the impact of uncertainty on economic dynamics, financial markets and the prudent design of policy.

Responsibilities:
• Engage in independent problem-solving with high-level directional advice;
• Supervise the computational progress of all MFR program research associates in close coordination with MFR faculty director;
• Provide a bridge between computational mathematicians from Argonne National Laboratory and University of Chicago Research Computing Center (RCC) that will provide high level computational guidance as to best practices and efficient solution algorithms;
• Provide research guidance, conduct and hold necessary meetings with MFR research associates to ensure that deadlines and directions imposed by the MFR faculty director and affiliated faculty researchers are met.
• Assist Professor Lars Peter Hansen to identify, assess and organize information for research from academic institutions worldwide and other organizations addressing similar research goals;
• Collaborate with the MFR research team to create and strengthen a digital platform accessible to the community of researchers whose aim is to strengthen dynamic models in macroeconomics and finance;
• Present findings effectively and articulately at regular internal MFR staff meetings and seminars/conferences;
• Contribute essential technical content relevant to grant proposals and reports in support of the initiative.

Competencies:
• Identify and interpret research quality and relevance, communicate findings independently through effective oral and written communication on a bi-weekly basis;
• Strong computational skills, computer programming and quantitative skills, experience with a statistical programming language such as R or MATLAB, along with lower-level programming languages such as C, C++, Python, or JULIA.

Experience:
• Minimum of one year of at least part-time relevant research experience required.
• Demonstrated interest in the development and use of dynamic economic models and a willingness to explore cross-disciplinary research at a high level.
• Previous experience as part of a research team including possibly the supervision of less experienced research.