Postdoctoral Researcher - Composites Manufacturing & Characterization

For this role, we are seeking an enthusiastic postdoctoral researcher to either refine or develop their expertise in composites manufacturing and characterization. As part of this role, the ideal candidate will be passionate about manifesting higher-level project deliverables into a timely, high-quality product. The immediate project needs for this candidate are in the development and optimization of products for a variety of industries from automotive to aerospace made from new bio- and waste-derived plastic resins and fillers.

The ideal candidate for this role would be passionate about leveraging their experience or developing new expertise in composites manufacturing through a variety of methods from benchtop to pilot-scale. They should then be passionate about leveraging the one-of-a-kind characterization capabilities available across the laboratory to perform necessary characterization techniques to understand, optimize, and refine the material formulations. The candidate should be comfortable working alongside interdisciplinary teams of people with multiple areas of expertise and designing experiments to answer specific research questions.

The candidate must be self-motivated with a thirst for knowledge and a passion for performing safe work. The candidate will be expected to simultaneously execute multiple projects, contribute to development of new initiatives in their area, interact with ORNL staff, industry, and academic partners. This position resides in the Sustainable Manufacturing Technologies Group in the Manufacturing Science Division (MSD) of the Energy Science and Technology Directorate at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL).

Requisition

For this role, we are seeking an enthusiastic postdoctoral researcher to either refine or develop their expertise in composites manufacturing and characterization. As part of this role, the ideal candidate will be passionate about manifesting higher-level project deliverables into a timely, high-quality product. The immediate project needs for this candidate are in the development and optimization of products for a variety of industries from automotive to aerospace made from new bio- and waste-derived plastic resins and fillers.

The ideal candidate for this role would be passionate about leveraging their experience or developing new expertise in composites manufacturing through a variety of methods from benchtop to pilot-scale. They should then be passionate about leveraging the one-of-a-kind characterization capabilities available across the laboratory to perform necessary characterization techniques to understand, optimize, and refine the material formulations. The candidate should be comfortable working alongside interdisciplinary teams of people with multiple areas of expertise and designing experiments to answer specific research questions.

The candidate must be self-motivated with a thirst for knowledge and a passion for performing safe work. The candidate will be expected to simultaneously execute multiple projects, contribute to development of new initiatives in their area, interact with ORNL staff, industry, and academic partners. This position resides in the Sustainable Manufacturing Technologies Group in the Manufacturing Science Division (MSD) of the Energy Science and Technology Directorate at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL).

Our research team carries out high-quality R&D focused on the development of new, high performance, lower-cost, domestically sourced composite manufacturing for applications in aerospace, automotive, and marine/shipbuilding industries, as well as trending areas of international composite research in material science, mechanical engineering, chemical engineering, and automation. The successful candidate will support research in a variety of areas and support staff in publishing original peer-reviewed research articles.

• Perform composites manufacturing using a variety of techniques including compression and/or injection molding, and additive manufacturing
• Operate characterization techniques such as DSC, FTIR, TGA, DMA, TMA, XRD, rheology, twin-screw extruders, and electron and optical microscopy
• Design and execute experiments to characterize new, innovative materials for a variety of properties using the comprehensive characterization capabilities across the laboratory
• Disseminate research findings in the form of multiple peer-reviewed journal articles per year
• Prioritizing multiple research…