Postdoctoral Appointee Materials Mechanics and Nanomechanics, Onsite

What Your Job Will Be Like:

Are you passionate about performing experimental research in the field of materials science and mechanical behavior of materials? Are you collaboration-focused and want to join a diverse team that solves significant issues facing our nation and the world? You could be the postdoctoral appointee that we are looking for to work in the area of nanomechanical testing and autonomous experimentation! This is an exciting opportunity to join a highly productive and collaborative network of scientists.

• You will explore the mechanical behavior of materials across length scales using advanced techniques:
• Nanoindentation, micropillar compression, MEMS‑based thin film testing, microtensile methods, and conventional loadframe‑based mechanical testing.

Materials of interest span:

• Nanocrystalline metals, thin film systems, additively manufactured alloys, and architected metamaterials, with applications in structural materials, micro/nano‑devices, and flexible electronics.
• You will also contribute to a growing effort in autonomous and agentic experimentation, helping to design and implement AI/ML‑driven closed‑loop testing workflows that accelerate scientific discovery.
• In these pursuits you will be leveraging a suite of nanomechanical testing platforms including instrumented nanoindentation, custom MEMS‑based actuators, and in situ electron microscopy capabilities with access to many more cutting‑edge tools and facilities at the Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies (CINT) and Sandia's new Center for Advanced Manufacturing Innovation (CAMINO).
• Your work will push the boundaries of what is possible in high‑throughput, self‑driving mechanical characterization, generating rich process‑structure‑property datasets that connect to modeling and simulation efforts across the laboratory.

There are also opportunities open to new research pathways as well as to engage with complementary research efforts and interact with a broad spectrum of scientists internal and external to the laboratory.

• PhD in a physical science or engineering discipline (e.g., Materials Science, Mechanical Engineering, Physics, or related field) must have been conferred within five years prior to employment.
• Experience with mechanical testing of materials (e.g., conventional loadframe‑based mechanical testing, nanoindentation, micropillar compression, thin film testing, or related techniques)
• Experience with materials characterization techniques (e.g. scanning electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, x‑ray diffraction, and/or other characterization techniques)
• Documented experience in both oral presentation settings and in published communication

• Experience with in situ electron microscopy experiments (such as nanomechanical testing, heating, environmental exposure, etc.)
• Experience with autonomous experimentation, Bayesian optimization, active learning, or other AI/ML‑driven experimental workflows
• Proficiency with programming for instrument control, data analysis, and/or workflow automation using Python or similar software
• Familiarity with additive manufacturing processes and the characterization of additively manufactured materials
• Familiarity with thin film deposition, processing, and microstructural characterization
• Experience in using electron microscopy for diffraction analysis and defect analysis
• Familiarity with constitutive modeling, finite element analysis, or molecular dynamics as applied to mechanical behavior
• Capacity for conception, design, control, and execution of experiments
• Ability to work as an independent researcher with a high level of scientific judgment, as well as to collaborate with other researchers in a diverse team
• Experience with MEMS‑based mechanical testing, microtensile methods, or other custom small‑scale testing platforms

• Scientific discovery and peer‑reviewed publications on nanotechnology, material science, microsystems, metallurgy, mechanical engineering, and related fields.
• Solutions for research and development problems involving mechanical properties of materials.
• Relationships and dependencies…