Open Positions

Established in 2002 through the generous gift of Harold A. Pollman, the Pollman Fellowship in Real Estate and Urban Development is given to outstanding postdoctoral graduates in real estate, urban planning, and development to spend one year in residence as a visiting scholar at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design. Applicants in the fields of economic development, political economy, urban economics, and other areas in urban planning related to real estate and urban development are also encouraged to apply.

Postdoctoral candidates for the Pollman Fellowship should either have received their doctorate or have submitted their dissertation for final awarding of the degree. The fellowship award is $30,000, plus medical benefits, and is to be used towards living and research expenses. While at Harvard, the fellow may audit courses and may seek to supplement the fellowship with teaching and research assignments. The fellow is expected to produce at least one publishable paper in a refereed journal, to participate in research workshops, and to contribute to the life of the School.

Applications are accepted annually. Please refer to the Pollman Fellowship webpage for instructions on how and when to apply.

The Daniel Urban Kiley Teaching Fellowship is awarded to an emerging designer who demonstrates a promising trajectory towards consequential work in the design of the urban public realm. The Kiley Fellow will be appointed Lecturer in Landscape Architecture for the academic year. While the ​fellowship is awarded competitively on an annual ​or semi-annual basis, successful ​fellows are eligible to have their academic appointments renewed for a second year at the rank of Lecturer, dependent upon review of their teaching, research, and creative practice.

The AY ’23-’24 Kiley Fellow is Kira Clingen.

The Daniel Urban Kiley Fellowship builds upon the history of pedagogic innovation at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design as well as ​more than a century of leadership in landscape architecture education. A jury comprised of Harvard GSD faculty will identify a short-list of two to three finalists who will be invited to ​remote interviews. The recipient of the fellowship will be announced publicly in ​February.

The Landscape Architecture Department will be conducting an application process for the Kiley Fellowship this year for AY 24-25. 

For information on application processes, see the information below.

Eligibility

Landscape architects and designers from a range of allied design professions who can demonstrate a significant engagement with landscape architecture practice, pedagogy, or scholarship are invited to apply.

The Selection Process

A jury composed of members from the Harvard GSD faculty will typically select the Fellow. The two-stage competition process will identify a short-list of three finalists who will be invited to interviews with the competition jury. The jury will recommend a winner to be notified in December and announced publicly in February.

How to Apply

The Kiley Fellowship application deadline is November 15, 2024 at 5pm (EST).

Please submit the following application materials in the form of a single PDF (not larger than 25 MB):

• Current curriculum vitae
• One-page proposal describing the design/research project to be undertaken during the Fellowship
• Digital portfolio of design work
• Please name the PDF Lastname_Firstname.pdf
• Submit the PDF by email attachment to [email protected]
• Finalists should be prepared to provide names and contact information for 3 references

Return of Materials and Usage

All documents submitted through the application process will become the property of the Harvard University Graduate School of Design and may be used, with proper attribution, at a future date by the School for noncommercial purposes in any media or format.

For more information, email [email protected].

Harvard University is launching the Sustainable Buildings and Urban Future Cluster—a bold, interdisciplinary research initiative designed to address the climate crisis through transformative innovation in the built environment. This pioneering effort brings together Harvard scholars and practitioners across chemistry, materials science, fluid mechanics, AI, computer science, architecture, and engineering to develop scalable, data-informed solutions in sustainable design, construction, and energy management.

The Cluster aims to modernize—and ultimately revolutionize—energy management by building on and scaling the HouseZero® concept—Harvard’s prototype for ultra-efficient, naturally ventilated smart buildings—into interconnected communities. This unique initiative integrates three synergistic research thrusts:

1. Advanced thermal storage and sensing materials

1. Intelligent, building-scale integration of sensing and control systems

1. Cooperative, urban-scale energy management

Together, these research directions seek to reimagine how buildings and cities operate—optimizing energy use, enhancing human well-being, and reducing carbon emissions at scale.

We are seeking multiple Postdoctoral Researchers to join this collaborative effort. These three-year positions, starting September 1, 2025, are hosted by the Harvard Center for Green Buildings and Cities and funded by the Salata Institute for Climate and Sustainability. While the project is scheduled to launch in September, hiring may occur earlier, and selected candidates may have the opportunity to begin their appointments ahead of the official start date. Each postdoctoral researcher will work with one or more principal investigators (PIs) aligned with their domain expertise, while contributing to a highly integrated, interdisciplinary research team.

Key research areas include:

• Development of low-carbon materials and tunable thermal energy storage materials integrated with smart sensors and advanced algorithms

• Creation of Digital Twins for energy-efficient building and urban operation

• Exploration of novel Human-Building Interaction interfaces

• Design of cooperative energy-sharing systems across multiple buildings

• Integration of data-driven and physics-informed learning algorithms for scalable energy management and control

• Engagement with industry stakeholders to guide practical implementation and scale-up strategies

Ideal candidates will have expertise in one or more of the following areas: 

• Sustainable building systems or materials science

• Power system modeling, control systems, or HVAC alternatives

• IoT and sensor networks in the built environment

• AI or data-driven modeling and control for building and urban systems

• Human-centered or interaction design for smart systems

Postdoctoral researchers will collaborate closely with faculty from the Graduate School of Design, the John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, and the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, as well as with industry experts. This is a rare opportunity to contribute to a high-impact, interdisciplinary initiative at the forefront of climate innovation.

Leading faculty:

• Joanna Aizenberg, Amy Smith Berylson Professor of Materials Science
• Petros Koumoutsakos, Herbert S. Winokur Jr. Professor of Computing in Science and Engineering
• Na Li, Winokur Family Professor in Electrical Engineering and Applied Mathematics
• Le Xie, Gordon McKay Professor of Electrical Engineering
• Ali Malkawi, Professor of Architectural Technology
• Jarad Mason, Associate Professor of Chemistry & Chemical Biology
• Vijay Janapa Reddi, John L. Loeb Associate Professor in Electrical Engineering

Please submit a CV, a cover letter, a research statement, two example research papers, and the names of three references. In the cover letter, please list at least two co-PIs from the above list you would like to work with. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis.

The positions are intended for individuals who hold a Ph.D. or Doctorate Degree in a related area.

Final hiring decisions will be contingent on availability of funding.

Join us in redefining how we live, build, and share energy in a changing world.

Please use the following link to apply:

https://academicpositions.harvard.edu/postings/14901

The Harvard Graduate School of Design is currently seeking a full-time Research Associate (pre-doctoral) to contribute to a research project related to informal urban transportation in Kampala, Uganda. The project involves primary data collection and a planned randomized experiment. The fellow will be involved in data cleaning, data analysis, design of the experiment, academic and policy writing. The candidate will work under the supervision of Principal Investigators, Dr. Carole Turley Voulgaris (Graduate School of Design, Department of Urban Planning and Design) and Dr. Gabriel Kreindler (Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Department of Economics).This position is funded through a grant from Harvard University’s Motsepe Presidential Research Accelerator Fund for Africa.

Duties and Responsibilities:

The individual will work in close collaboration with the Principal Investigators. More specifically, the individual will:

• Design, write, and fine-tune code in the R programming language for data cleaning and data analysis;
• Create data analysis results, including regression results, and spatial analysis, including visualizations and maps;
• Run power calculations for randomized controlled trials;
• Assist in reviewing, synthesizing, and writing reviews of existing literature on informal transport in the global south;
• Assist (potentially as a co-author) in the preparation of academic journal submissions and code and data for publication;
• Develop the individual’s own research agenda, drawing on the data and results from the primary project.

Qualifications:

• Proficiency in the R programming language, including for geospatial data (simple features using the sf package).
• Proficiency with Git and GitHub for project version-control.
• Strong interest or background in transportation planning, transportation engineering, urban planning, development economics, informal economies, or related topics.
• Curiosity and eagerness to learn.
• Strong academic writing skills.
• Undergraduate degree in civil engineering, geography, urban planning, urban studies, computer science, data science, economics, urban studies, statistics, or a related field.
• If you are unsure whether you meet all of the above requirements, but you think you might meet most of them, and you are interested in the position, please apply.
• Ability to work in-person or remotely from California, Connecticut, Georgia, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, orWashington (a visa can be arranged).

Additional Qualifications:

Preference may be given to candidates with the following qualifications, but they are not required.

• Ability to work in-person in Cambridge, Massachusetts at least two days per week.
• Familiarity with or direct lived experience in Sub Saharan African cities.

Additional Information: This is a 12-month, full-time position with benefits. You can find more information on benefits for Harvard employees here: https://hr.harvard.edu/health-welfare-benefits.

Start Date: July 1, 2025

Duration of Employment: 12 months

Salary Grade: $60,000 per year.

Application Instructions: Please apply at this link:

https://academicpositions.harvard.edu/postings/14909

Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis as they are received and will continue until the position is filled. Highly qualified applicants will be invited to complete a data analysis coding task and an interview.

Final hiring decisions will be contingent on availability of funding.