Postdoctoral Positions in AI/ML for Critical Mineral Supply Chains and Geophysical Survey Planning at Stanford Stanford University in United States

Stanford Mineral-X, in collaboration with the Stanford Intelligent Systems Laboratory (SISL), is offering two new postdoctoral fellowships focused on advancing artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) methods for critical mineral supply and resource appraisals. These positions are ideal for researchers passionate about applying advanced decision-making, geoscience, and machine learning to real-world mineral challenges.

Fellowship 1: Optimizing Critical Mineral Supply Chains
This role centers on upstream supply chain planning for key battery minerals such as lithium and graphite. The postdoctoral fellow will develop a POMDP-based decision-support tool that integrates geological, economic, and geopolitical uncertainty into long-term investment and procurement strategies for a major automotive company. Applicants should have experience with AI planning under uncertainty (POMDPs or reinforcement learning), supply chain or economic modeling, expert programming skills in Python (Julia preferred), and a Ph.D. completed within the last three years (by April 1, 2026).

Fellowship 2: Planning Geophysical Surveys for Resource Appraisal
In partnership with SISL, this position focuses on developing intelligent planning frameworks for geophysical surveys (e.g., muon tomography) to accelerate mineral resource appraisal under geological uncertainty. The fellow will work on data-driven subsurface modeling, long-horizon survey planning, and sequential model updating. Applicants should have a strong understanding and experience with planning under uncertainty, strong skills with complex datasets, a background in inverse problems or geoscience (preferred), expert programming skills in Python/Julia, and a Ph.D. completed within the last three years (by February 15, 2026).

Both positions are based at Stanford University, within the Doerr School of Sustainability and the Mineral-X group, offering a unique opportunity to contribute to Silicon Valley’s AI-driven push on critical minerals. The application deadline for both fellowships is February 1, 2026. For more information and to apply, visit the Mineral-X website.