Postdoctoral Fellow; PREP

General Description

Salary: $82,000-$89,000 a year

This position is part of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (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 PREP award. The PREP program requires staff from a wide range of backgrounds to work on scientific research in many areas.

Employees in this position will perform technical work that underpins the scientific research of the collaboration.

A Senior Researcher is sought for a position in Structural Engineering to contribute to cutting‑edge work on resilience‑based seismic design of steel structures. This opportunity is part of a high‑impact research effort focused on advancing the science of seismic design for damage control, post‑earthquake performance, residual capacity, and repairability of steel buildings at both the component and system levels. The researcher will collaborate closely with leading experts at NIST and academia to accelerate the development of next‑generation seismic design and post‑earthquake evaluation procedures.

• Synthesize knowledge from past experimental tests and high‑fidelity models of structural steel components.
• Develop new nonlinear finite element models to address key data gaps in steel component behavior.
• Translate findings into technical guidance that informs seismic design for damage control, post‑earthquake assessment and decision‑making for structural engineers.
• Conduct nonlinear dynamic analyses and consequence modeling across a suite of steel building archetypes to demonstrate the real‑world application of the developed procedures.

• Ph.D. in Civil Engineering with a focus on the behavior of steel structures.
• Strong background in the behavior of structural steel components and nonlinear analysis of steel systems, with emphasis on seismic effects.
• Experience with Open Sees and/or other high‑fidelity finite element software; proficiency in Python and/or MATLAB.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills.
• Strong publication record in leading peer‑reviewed journals.

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