R&D Associate

Overview

The Applied Research for Mobility Systems (ARMS) Group at Oak Ridge National Laboratory is seeking applicants for the position of Research and Development (R&D) Associate Staff to lead modeling, data analysis, and test method development for emerging medium‑ and heavy‑duty vehicle technologies and advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS). The role focuses on building and validating energy consumption models across various powertrains (e.g., conventional, battery electric, and fuel cell);

performing techno‑economic and carbon analyses at regional scales; aggregating and harmonizing disparate datasets; and advancing vehicle‑in‑the‑loop (VIL) test capabilities, including over‑the‑air radar stimulation. The ideal candidate has strong experience with MATLAB/Simulink and Python, statistical frameworks, and hands‑on test bench development, with a track record of delivering sponsor‑facing technical reports and publications.

The ARMS group is within the Vehicle and Mobility Systems Research (VMSR) Section of the Buildings and Transportation Science Division (BTSD). The VMSR Section focuses on accelerating the development of advanced vehicles and complex mobility systems through advances in connected and autonomous vehicle technologies, communications, systems integration, and decision science. The objective of the ARMS Group is to provide leadership in advanced anything‑in‑the‑loop research to accelerate the development of transportation technologies from component‑level to full vehicles to traffic networks.

• Identify, collect, and process real‑world data, such as road network information (geographic information systems data), traffic density and flow, signal timing plan, fleet population mix, routing, etc., and develop realistic scenarios in traffic microsimulation software and virtual environment/vehicle simulators.
• Establish detailed light‑duty (LD), medium‑duty (MD), and/or heavy‑duty (HD) vehicle models with emerging mobility technology capabilities, such as connected and automated vehicles (CAVs), cooperative driving automation (CDA), and electrified vehicles. Develop simulations of these vehicles operating in diverse traffic, geographies, and environments to assess impact of emerging mobility technologies on the transportation system.
• Development and implementation of advanced software‑in‑the‑loop (SIL) and hardware‑in‑the‑loop (HIL) systems to support advanced powertrain, CAV and CDA control system design, validation, and verification.

• Develop and validate longitudinal energy consumption models in Simulink for medium‑ and heavy‑duty vehicles across gasoline, diesel, battery electric (BEV), and fuel cell electric (FCEV) powertrains.
• Create statistical frameworks to assess powertrain conversion feasibility for fleet vehicles based on duty cycle predictions, battery capacity, and vehicle constraints.
• Quantify charging/refueling infrastructure requirements (number, power level, and siting of dispensers) for fleet transitions, including depot and corridor scenarios.
• Design Python pipelines to aggregate and harmonize disparate datasets (e.g., energy prices, emissions factors, telematics/duty cycle data) and implement algorithms to optimally correlate data sources provided by sponsors.
• Conduct zip code or region‑level energy pricing and well‑to‑wheel carbon emissions analyses for diesel, electric, and hydrogen truck operations.
• Build and enhance VIL test bench capabilities, including specifying, procuring, and integrating over‑the‑air radar stimulation hardware and mounting solutions.
• Develop methods for test run synchronization and create metrics/KPIs to characterize how well VIL testing represents closed‑course ADAS testing.
• Lead vehicle selection and procurement for VIL testing; manage subcontracted closed‑course test activities and vendor relationships.
• Document methodologies, code, and test procedures; author sponsor deliverables, technical reports, and peer‑reviewed publications; present results to stakeholders (e.g., DOE, NHTSA).
• Collaborate cross‑functionally with domain experts in mobility systems, controls, and data science to…