This is a rare opportunity to join NASA’s award winning Scientific Visualization Studio (http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov). The Science Visualizer Fellowship is a yearlong position designed to nurture emerging data visualizers who wish to explore the intersection of science and art through science story telling, data processing, and scientific visualization. Applicants should have a computer science background, a strong interest or background in computer graphics, and some coursework in physical sciences.
The position is aimed at recent university graduates and graduate students interested in creating visually compelling cinematic-quality scientific visualizations for some of NASA’s most exciting science missions. The position involves working closely with other NASA visualizers, scientists, producers, and writers to: develop concepts and visualization storyboards; write code, scripts, and shaders to process and ingest science data into Maya and Renderman; develop Maya scenes (geometry, shaders, and camera paths); and render the visualizations sometimes under tight deadlines.
The candidate will be assigned a mentor and will have ample assistance learning how we work. This opportunity is a chance to share results from NASA’s remote sensing missions on topics such as global precipitation patterns, sea ice changes, ocean productivity, greenhouse gas measurements, hurricanes, natural disasters, discoveries on Mars, lunar topography, space weather, and solar events.
Duties and Responsibilities:
- The candidate will be expected to make substantive contributions by creating scientific visualization animation content for use by a wide range of audiences: scientists, news media, bloggers, educators, students, museums, science centers, and the general public
- The candidate will participate in all phases of scientific visualization development from concept to final delivery.
- Candidates with a passion for science, computer graphics, and art
- Candidates with computer programming experience
- Candidates interested in learning skills and techniques required for the production of high quality data visualization
- Experience with or desire to learn Maya and Renderman
- Experience working with scientific computing applications like IDL, Matlab, or Geographic Information System (GIS) tools is a plus
APPLICATION MATERIALS:
- Web links to any video reels, web demos, or power point presentations that are representative work. For group projects, please let us know what your role was on the project.
- Personal Statement: Please include a personal statement outlining your educational and professional objectives.
- Resume and References: Please include a resume with relevant work experience and educational highlights. Applicants are required to submit three reference letters.
Application deadline is June 20, 2014. Starting date for the one-year position is flexible.
USRA is an Equal Opportunity Employer Minorities/Females/Protected Veterans/Disabled