Post Doctorate RA - Chemical & Bio Processing

Postdoc Researcher

The Chemical and Biological Processing Group is seeking a Postdoc Researcher to carry out research in hydrothermal depolymerization of waste plastics and detailed characterization of HTL products. The successful candidate will have experience in depolymerization of plastics and characterization of the products.

The successful candidate will:

• Conduct independent research and contribute to multidisciplinary team assignments involving hydrothermal process development.
• Safely operate laboratory-scale reactor systems.
• Operation of analytical instrumentation including NMR, GPC, FTIR, GC-MS, LC, or related methods
• Develop novel methods for hydrothermal processing of plastic waste, with the goal of producing and isolating valuable chemical products
• Carry out detailed analysis of the oil, aqueous, solid, and gas phases from hydrothermal plastics/biomass processing
• Collaborate with experimental researchers and external research partners to scale up optimized methods for plastics processing
• Develop an understanding of the chemical classes/families within biocrudes using a petroleomics-based approach
• Prepare technical reports, peer-reviewed manuscripts, presentations, and other project deliverables.
• Present research results at technical conferences, sponsor meetings, and project or program reviews.
• Contribute to the development of research proposals, intellectual property, and new technical capabilities.
• Maintain a strong commitment to safe, rigorous, and reproducible laboratory research.

Minimum Qualifications:

• Candidates must have received a PhD within the past five years (60 months) or within the next 8 months from an accredited college or university.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering, Chemistry, Polymer Science or a closely related field.
• Demonstrated experience conducting independent scientific or engineering research.
• Experience with hydrolysis, solvolysis, and related chemistries for chemical depolymerization of plastics or biopolymers
• Experience operating NMR, GPC, FTIR, GC-MS, LC, or related methods
• Familiarity with hydrothermal liquefaction
• Strong record of peer-reviewed publications and technical presentations.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Ability to work effectively within multidisciplinary research teams.
• Hands-on experience operating laboratory-scale batch or continuous-flow reactor systems.
• Experience operating high throughput reaction screening systems
• Familiarity with biomass-derived intermediates, oxygenates, biocrudes, waste-derived feed stocks, or catalytic upgrading pathways to fuels and chemicals.
• Experience with classical separations such as liquid-liquid extraction, chromatographic separations, or distillation
• Familiarity with FT-ICR-MS
• Experience using large language models, agentic workflows, or generative AI to support literature analysis, hypothesis generation, data interpretation, or research automation is a plus.
• Demonstrated interest in translating fundamental scientific understanding into scalable and deployable chemical processes.