Career Opportunities
Krimigis Postdoctoral Scholars Program
About the Program
The Krimigis Postdoctoral Scholars Program at APL provides extraordinary scientists with the opportunity to engage in cutting-edge projects designed to advance the future of space science.
When you join us, you become part of a community of experts expanding the frontiers of space science and technology. APL has designed, built, operated, and led more than 70 spacecraft missions to explore the solar system and more than 325 specialized instruments to better understand our place among the stars. Our scientists and engineers are leading and developing initiatives that will facilitate the exploration of the Moon and that could define the future of space exploration.
Postdoctoral scholars in this program receive competitive pay, a generous benefits package, and networking opportunities within their cohort and among other researchers at APL.
This is a two-year program, with the option for a third year. Most positions will be for full-time work, although part-time work is possible by participant’s request.
Program alumni are encouraged to apply for other open opportunities at APL at the conclusion of their term.
Key Features
Mentorship
Mentorship from a research advisor to help you further develop as a researcher and science professional
Travel
Support for travel to conferences and to publish research
Training
Training in soft professional skills, such as proposal writing
Leadership
Ability to submit grant proposals as a principal investigator
Impact
Space Science and Engineering
Since the dawn of the Space Age, APL has expanded the frontiers of space science and technology. We took the first picture of Earth from space, invented satellite navigation, dispatched spacecraft across the solar system, and demonstrated technology to advance our nation’s security.
About Stamatios “Tom” Krimigis
This program is named for Stamatios “Tom” Krimigis, a visionary space scientist, inventor, leader, and mentor. Krimigis is the only scientist in the world who built instrumentation for and/or participated in space science missions to all nine classical planets and the Sun. He served as a science instrument principal investigator on five NASA missions, including the legendary Voyager missions and the Cassini orbiter to Saturn. Over the course of his career, Krimigis has designed, built, flown, and analyzed data from 21 instruments on various NASA and European Space Agency missions. He was also instrumental in establishing NASA’s principal-investigator-led approach to space science, including the creation of the Discovery and New Frontiers programs. He has published over 640 papers in peer-reviewed journals and books and has been cited over 27,000 times.
Born in Greece, Krimigis earned a bachelor’s degree in physics from the University of Minnesota and a master’s and doctorate in physics from the University of Iowa, studying under James Van Allen, the former APL scientist who discovered Earth’s radiation belts. He served on the faculty of the Physics and Astronomy Department at the University of Iowa before joining APL in 1968. During his time at APL, he headed the Space Physics and Instrumentation Group, became chief scientist in 1980, and became head of the Space Department (now the Space Exploration Sector) in 1991. In that role for more than a decade, Krimigis directed the activities of hundreds of scientists and engineers with a focus on space science and engineering.
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