The Beyond Center

Job Details:

The Beyond Center for Fundamental Concepts in Science (http://beyond.asu.edu) at Arizona State University invites applications for a Postdoctoral Research Scholar position in the laboratory of PI Sara Walker (http://emergence.asu.edu/). We seek an ambitious scientist with expertise in bioinformatics, the biochemistry of early life, evolutionary biology, or a related field, who is eager to develop entirely new approaches to reconstructing evolutionary history that predates the Last Universal Common Ancestor (LUCA). The anticipated start date for the position is December 1, 2026; however, the start date is flexible.

The Walker lab works at the intersection of theory and data science with the goal of identifying the 'laws of life's universal principles that will help us understand the nature of living systems, solve the origin of life, and detect life on other worlds. A central aim of this position is to ask how the chemical record preserved in the composition and architecture of modern cells might be read as a record of the deep evolutionary past - the era before LUCA that conventional sequence-based phylogenetics cannot reach.

The successful candidate will help develop novel methods and hypotheses that leverage recent advances in assembly theory to interpret molecular and cellular complexity as evidence of evolutionary history, extending the reach of evolutionary reconstruction to the very earliest stages of life's emergence. This is an opportunity to invent methodology rather than apply it, and to help open a new empirical window onto pre-LUCA evolution.

The ideal candidate brings deep expertise in established evolutionary biology and phylogenetic methods yet is genuinely motivated by open questions at the origins of life and is brave and creative enough to move beyond established techniques toward entirely new frameworks. We especially welcome applicants who see the reconstruction of pre-LUCA evolution not as a settled problem but as fertile ground for building fundamentally new approaches.

About The Beyond Center

Individuals hired for these positions will be part of the Beyond Center (https://beyond.asu.edu/), the School of Earth and Space Exploration (https://sese.asu.edu/ ) and the Walker lab (https://emergence.asu.edu/ ) at Arizona State University.

About The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences is the academic heart of Arizona State University, committed to improving communities on a local, national and global scale. We support the professional development and growth of our faculty and staff in their cutting-edge research to advance these aims. Within The College, our faculty engage with a large curious student body, guiding them as they grow into socially aware, critical thinkers and writers able to succeed in a wide range of careers and to address the challenges of the twenty-first century. Advancing the success of our students remains our top priority. To learn more about The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, please visit https://thecollege.asu.edu.

About Arizona State University

ASU exemplifies a new prototype for the American public research university. As articulated in the ASU Charter, ASU is a comprehensive public research university, measured not by whom it excludes, but by whom it includes and how they succeed; advancing research and discovery of public value; and assuming fundamental responsibility for the economic, social, cultural and overall health of the communities it serves.