A new NASA-URC Center for Gravitational Wave Astronomy (CGWA) will begin operation in January 2003 at The University of Texas at Brownsville. The focus of the center will be on research in gravitational radiation relevant for LISA (Laser Interferometric Space Antenna), a joint NASA-ESA mission.

The University of Texas at Brownsville Relativity Group (UTBRG) invites applications for three postdoctoral positions in the areas of gravitational wave source modeling (numerical relativity), gravitational wave data analysis, and the interface between these activities. Each position is for one year, renewable for successive one-year periods up to a total of five years, pending continued financial support and satisfactory performance. The starting date for the positions is Fall 2003 or earlier. We will be continuously reviewing applications until the positions are filled.

The group consists of five faculty members (Warren Anderson, Manuela Campanelli, Mario Díaz, Carlos Lousto and Joe Romano), two post-doctoral researchers (Claudia Moreno, who just joined the UTBRG from PSU, and Leor Barack from AEI who will join the group next spring), and six graduate students. Two new faculty members, in the area of Relativistic Astrophysics, will join the group in the coming year, and we expect to double the number of graduate students involved in the group within the next year.

Current activities of the group include: i) development of tools for data analysis for the LIGO project (in particular stochastic background and burst searches), ii) the "Lazarus project", a combined approach to binary black hole merger simulations using full numerical, perturbative, and post-Newtonian techniques, iii) the computation of radiation reaction effects in binary systems with small mass ratio using perturbative techniques, and iv) grid computing. We are beginning to (or will soon) expand our research interests in three additional directions: i) developing tools that allow the information gathered in source modeling activities to inform data analysis algorithms and vice versa, ii) developing expertise in source modeling, data analysis, and their interface for LIGO and LISA sources, and iii) astrophysics of supermassive black holes.

The group is currently a member of the LIGO Scientific Collaboration as a LIGO I institution, and has applied to become a LIGO/GriPhyN Tier II center. We are also charter members of the GriPhyN and iVDGL projects, two large-scale NSF funded projects that will form the world's first global computational grid, providing a Petabyte scale computational resource for major scientific experiments in physics, astronomy, biology and engineering, including LIGO.

The group has excellent computational facilities, including a network of SGI and Linux workstations, and a 96-node Beowulf cluster, which has been recently grid-enabled (with VDT 1.1) and has a running version of Cactus for numerical relativity applications. (See http://www.phys.utb.edu/beowulf for more details.) We are also going to construct a new Beowulf cluster dedicated to numerical relativity research.

Applications shall consist of a cover letter, statement of research interests, a curriculum vitae, and at least three letters of recommendation. Applicants should send all materials to:

Department of Physics and Astronomy
The University of Texas at Brownsville
attn: Eidee Salinas, secretary
80 Fort Brown
Brownsville, TX 78520, USA

The University of Texas at Brownsville is an Affirmative Action/Equal Employment Opportunity Employer, and all qualified applicants receive equal consideration in the selection process. We encourage applicants from members of traditionally under represented groups protected under the Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, Vietnam Era, and persons with physical disabilities.