Postdoctoral Researcher, New Instrument for Detecting Wine Grape Taint

Location: University of California, Davis

Wildfires have devastated large swaths of the western states resulting in a range of catastrophic consequences. The wine grape growers and vintners in Washington, Oregon and California have lost hundreds of millions of dollars due to grapes that become unsuitable for wine due to damage from wildfire smoke. This post-doctoral position will involve design and construction of a gas chromatography cross flow ion mobility spectrometer for detection of volatile organic compounds emitted (a) in wildfire smoke, (b) by healthy grapes, and (c) by grapes tainted by wildfire smoke to help growers and vintners assess which grapes are suitable for harvesting and turning into wine.

The ideal candidates will have experience with chemical analysis of gas phase pollutants in the atmosphere. Expertise in laboratory and field work are desired as is experience with machine learning tools, gas chromatography and ion mobility spectrometry.  Individuals with backgrounds in analytical chemistry, atmospheric science and/or food science are especially encouraged to apply.

The post-doctoral fellow will report to Professor Anthony Wexler, Director of the Air Quality Research Center at UC Davis, and will be mentored by Dr. Wexler and Dr. Tom Young, Professor in Civil and Environmental Engineering at UC Davis. The post-doctoral fellow will work with colleagues in California, Oregon and Washington working together to help growers and vintners with wine taint.

Start Date: January 1, 2022 or later

Length of Appointment: up to 2.75 years

Contact:

Anthony Wexler, aswexler@ucdavis.edu

Tom Young, tyoung@ucdavis.edu