Postdoctoral Fellow; PREP

General Description

Salary: $82,000–$89,000 per year.

PREP Research Associate

This position is part of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Professional Research Experience Program (PREP). The NIST Communications Technology Laboratory (CTL) is developing new metrology to measure the interoperability of vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communications. The project focuses on semantic interoperability, evaluating whether a receiving device can accurately interpret the meaning and intent of an incoming message and developing a software‑based method to assess that interoperability.

Assessing the Semantic Interoperability of V2X Communications

• Analyze packet traces from V2X devices to identify semantic interoperability failures.
• Develop software that parses SAE J2735 messages to assess the interoperability of V2X devices.
• Design test cases for different semantic interoperability failures and execute them to collect data from V2X hardware and network simulations.
• Support the development of ontology‑based semantic models and semantic validation methods for V2X communication systems.
• Prepare technical reports, presentations, and datasets summarizing interoperability findings and semantic failure cases.

• Ph.D. in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or a closely related field. Candidates with a Master’s degree and significant research experience may also be considered.
• Research background in wireless networks and distributed systems, including experience using network protocol analyzers such as Wireshark.
• Proficiency with C++, Python, or a similar programming language and collaborative workflows using version control such as Git.
• Familiarity with cellular communication technologies such as 4G LTE or 5G .
• Strong oral and written communication skills.

U.S. Citizen Preferred

The National Institute of Standards and Technology is an equal opportunity employer. We do not discriminate on the basis of sex, gender, marital status, pregnancy, race, color, ethnicity, national origin, age, disability, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, or veteran status.