Assistant Research Scientist; PREP

Johns Hopkins, founded in 1876, is America's first research university and home to nine world-class academic divisions working together as one university.

Salary : $70,000-$75,000 a year

Johns Hopkins University:
Whiting School of Engineering:
Office of Research and Translation

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 PREPaward. The PREP program requires staff from a wide range of backgrounds to work on scientific research in many areas. Employee sin this position will perform technical work that underpins the scientific research of the collaboration.

NIST is focused on the development and integration of robotic software architectures, leveraging ROS2, Java, C#, and C++ to buildscalable control frameworks. The work will involve designing robust system interfaces and implementing PLC programming to bridge high-level logic with physical hardware, ensuring seamless interoperability and performance across diverse robotic platforms.

• Develop, integrate, and maintain scalable robotic software architectures using ROS 2, C++, Java, and C# in collaboration withNIST researchers.
• Implement Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) programming and design system interfaces to bridge high-level autonomous logic with industrial physical hardware and sensors.
• Build robust device drivers, communication protocols, and APIs to ensure seamless software interoperability and execution across diverse robotic platforms.
• Conduct hands-on system testing, debugging, and performance optimization on real physical hardware and simulated environments to ensure reliable operation.
• Document codebase architectures, write system user guides, and present regular project progress updates to team members and project leads.

• US Citizens preferred.
• Education:
  
  Bachelor’s degree or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Robotics, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering,Software Engineering, or a related field.

• Hands-on experience developing software applications within theROS 2 ecosystem.
• Understanding of robotic nodes, topics, services, actions, andcustom message types
• Strong proficiency in C++ and/or Java.
• Proficiency or working experience with C# and Python.
• Experience with PLC programming (e.g., Ladder Logic, Structured Text, or Function Block Diagrams) for industrial automation.
• Experience interfacing high-level controllers with industrial hardware (e.g., actuators, relays, safety systems, fieldbusprotocols).
• Proficient with version control systems and workflows (e.g.,Git, Git Hub, Git Lab, or Bitbucket).
• Experience working in Linux/Unix (Ubuntu) environments as wellas Windows.
• Solid grounding in object-oriented programming (OOP), software testing, and debugging strategies.

Authority: 15 U.S.C. § 278g-1(e)(1) and (e)(3) and 15 U.S.C.§ 272(b) and (c)

Purpose:

The National Institute for Standards and Technology(NIST) hosts the Professional Research Experience Program (PREP) which is designed to provide valuable laboratory experience and financial assistance to undergraduates, post-bachelor’s degree holders,graduate students, master’s degree holders, postdocs, and faculty.

PREP is a 5-year cooperative agreement between NIST laboratories and participating PREP Universities to establish a collaborative research relationship between NIST and U.S. institutions of higher education in the following disciplines including (but may not belimited to)…