Sample Preparation Laboratory Manager

This position has been deemed critical by the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability Dean's Office and is exempt from the hiring pause.

This position is based on Stanford's main campus. Telecommuting is not available for this role. Interested candidates must include a resume and cover letter to be considered for this position.

Applicants must be authorized to work for any employer in the U.S. We are unable to sponsor or take over sponsorship of an employment visa.

About Us
The Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability strives to create a future when humans and nature thrive in concert and in perpetuity. The school is made up of a three-part structure to drive global impact:
Our academic departments and programs educate students and create new knowledge across areas of research that are crucial for advancing the long-term prosperity of the planet and people;
Institutes bridge scholarship at Stanford and beyond, bringing multiple viewpoints to bear on urgent challenges;
The Sustainability Accelerator drives new policy and technology solutions through a worldwide network of partners who work with our teams to develop solutions at a global scale. The school is dedicated to creating and supporting a community with the richness of experience and background needed to create solutions that benefit all people, particularly those most affected by environmental damage and climate change.

For more information on the school,  .

The Sample Preparation Laboratory (SPL) provides centralized sample preparation facilities, offering training and expert guidance for users both within the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability and the greater Stanford community. The SPL is equipped to prepare a variety of sample types, including rocks, minerals, glasses, ceramics, metals, soils, fossils, and plant tissues. This includes the instrumentation/techniques required to complete the following: sample cutting, coring, drilling, crushing, grinding, and pulverization;

sample mounting, polishing, and optical imaging; mineral picking and density separation. Laboratory equipment includes resin mount making and polishing equipment, optical microscopes (including an automated stage version), rock saws, ball mills, muffle furnace, sieve shaker, rock crushing and pulverizing equipment, density separator, magnetic separators, and heavy liquid density separation facilities.

We are seeking a highly motivated and experienced Laboratory Manager to oversee the operations of the SPL. The successful candidate will manage day-to-day lab activities, ensure the precision and quality of sample preparation processes, and maintain a safe and efficient work environment. The Laboratory Manager will collaborate with researchers, students, and faculty to support cutting-edge geoscience research. The SPL is currently in the middle of a major renovation, and a successful candidate will have the opportunity to test, develop, and implement the innovative sample preparation methods required to keep Stanford researchers on the cutting-edge.

The successful candidate will also have the chance to collaborate and collect data in other analytical facilities within the Doerr School of Sustainability (e.g., the Microanalysis Facility (MAF) and the Geochronology Cluster (GC)), ensuring that the methods being developed are consistent with the needs of those downstream laboratories. This will also provide opportunity for professional and career development.

Your Responsibilities will include:

• Train and supervise laboratory users on the instruments and techniques, including the preparation and processing of geoscience samples for structural geology, mineralogy, volcano logy, paleontology, and materials science research.
• Ensure the integrity and quality of all prepared samples through rigorous quality control testing and measures.
• Develop methods for producing polished resin mounts for electron microscopy (imaging, compositional analyses, and crystallographic analyses) using the new suite of instruments including a Struers Accutom 100, Struers Citovac, and Struers Tegramin 30.
• Advise researchers on sample preparation and mineral separation methods to meet their specific project goals
• Develop and optimize sample preparation procedures to ensure precision and accuracy in sample preparation
• Perform administrative duties such as coordinating the daily schedule for laboratory operations using iLab, purchasing consumables, scheduling hazardous waste pickup, and maintaining laboratory documentation.
• Maintain laboratory equipment, ensuring regular calibration, maintenance, and troubleshooting and work with service engineers as required.
• Collaborate with lab users, facilities staff, EH&S representatives and other facility lab managers as required.
• Maintain compliance with university, county, state and federal health and safety requirements.

* - The job duties listed are typical examples of work performed by positions in this job classification and are not designed to contain or be interpreted as a…