Assistant Research Scientist; PREP

PREP Research Associate

This position is part of the National Institute of Standards (NIST) Professional Research Experience (PREP) program. NIST recognizes that its research staff may wish to collaborate with researchers at academic institutions on specific projects of mutual interest, thus requires that such institutions must be the recipient of a PREP award. The PREP program requires staff from a wide range of backgrounds to work on scientific research in many areas.

Employees in this position will perform technical work that underpins the scientific research of the collaboration.

Synchrotron X-ray Additive Manufacturing Experiment Support and Data Analysis

The work will entail:
As part of its efforts to meet the needs of U.S. manufacturers in advanced manufacturing, the National As part of its efforts to meet the needs of U.S. manufacturers in advanced manufacturing, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has developed the Laser Processing and Metrology Testbed (LPDT), a portable laser processing platform designed for high-energy synchrotron X-ray experiments at facilities such as the Advanced Photon Source (APS) and the Cornell High Energy Synchrotron Source (CHESS).

These experiments combine in-situ X-ray diffraction and imaging with laser process parameters and complementary process-monitoring measurements to investigate laser-material interactions and laser powder bed fusion.

The Research Associate will primarily support the planning and execution of LPDT and related synchrotron experiments and process and analyze the resulting data, including existing datasets from prior beamtime. The associate will also help maintain reproducible analysis workflows, organize experimental data and metadata, and prepare results for reports and publications.

The position may be performed primarily remotely; occasional travel to NIST in Gaithersburg, Maryland, and to synchrotron facilities, including APS and CHESS, will be required for testbed preparation and on-site experiments.

U.S. Citizen preferred

• –ª Support experiment design, beamtime planning, hardware and testbed preparation, setup, alignment, execution, and documentation for LPDT and related synchrotron experiments.
• –ª Process and analyze in-situ synchrotron X-ray diffraction and imaging data from laser materials processing experiments.
• –ª Correlate X-ray measurements with laser scan conditions and synchronized visible, thermal, and other process-monitoring data.
• –ª Develop and document reproducible Python or MATLAB workflows for data preprocessing, calibration, quality control, visualization, and quantitative analysis.
• –ª Organize large datasets and metadata, compare results across experiments, and prepare figures, summaries, and publication-quality results.
• –ª Assist with mechanical, optical, sample-fixture, and testbed preparation needed for synchrotron and NIST experiments.
• –ª Present results at internal meetings and coordinate effectively with NIST researchers and external synchrotron-facility collaborators.

• –ª PhD degree, or current enrollment in a PhD program, focused on additive manufacturing or a closely related field. An undergraduate degree in materials science and engineering, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, or a related discipline is preferred.
• –ª Demonstrated hands-on experience conducting in-situ synchrotron X-ray diffraction and/or imaging experiments.
• –ª Experience with beamtime preparation, experimental setup and alignment, data acquisition, and post-experiment data reduction.
• –ª Experience at high-energy synchrotron facilities such as APS and/or CHESS is strongly preferred.
• –ª Familiarity with laser-material interactions, laser powder bed fusion, or…