Post Doctorate Research Associate - Analytical Methods and Laboratory Automation

At PNNL, our core capabilities are divided among major departments that we refer to as Directorates within the Lab, focused on a specific area of scientific research or other function, with its own leadership team and dedicated budget. Our Science & Technology directorates include National Security, Integrated Discovery Sciences, and Energy and Environment. In addition, we have an Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory, a Department of Energy, Office of Science user facility housed on the PNNL campus.

The Integrated Discovery Sciences Directorate (IDSD) leads fundamental research across biology, chemistry, earth and environmental sciences, materials science, advanced computing, artificial intelligence, quantum information science, mathematics, autonomy, and DOE national user facilities. Our vision is to accelerate scientific discovery by observing, understanding, simulating, predicting, and controlling dynamic biotic-abiotic processes and interactions within complex biological, chemical, material, and Earth systems. We intentionally connect disciplines to advance fundamental discovery science, develop transformative scientific capabilities, and address the nation's most important challenges in energy, environmental resilience, biotechnology, advanced manufacturing, health, and national security.

The Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory (EMSL) at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) is seeking a Post-Doctoral Researcher in laboratory automation to join the Molecular Observation Network (MONet) team. MONet is an EMSL initiative focused on molecular environmental science at ecosystem and regional scale. The researcher will lead testing, optimization and validation of the Automated Soil Analysis Platform (ASAP), an integrated set of instruments that processes MONet soil cores through a high-throughput analytical workflow and will publish on automation activities and analytical methods.

ASAP links instruments such as the Soil Slinger (an in-house soil aliquoting device), TECAN Fluent liquid handlers, shaker, centrifuge, and robotic sample transportation. The goal of ASAP is to deliver high-throughput, reproducible soil sample preparation in which every sample is fully traceable, so that research teams can produce consistent, well-documented data at a scale that manual workflows can’t reach. The ideal candidate will have hands‑on experience with laboratory automation, such as liquid handlers, and a background in analytical chemistry, biology, soil science, or engineering.

• Design and execute test plans to evaluate, validate, and optimize ASAP workflows for high-throughput soil core processing.
• Program, operate, and troubleshoot automated liquid handlers and other integrated ASAP instruments.
• Benchmark automated protocols against manual methods to assess data quality, throughput, and reproducibility.
• Document methods, test results, and standard operating procedures, and implement QA/QC practices.
• Collaborate with automation engineers, analytical chemists, and soil scientists.
• Lead manuscript development on laboratory automation activities and methods, and present results at national and international conferences.

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 Chemistry, Biology, Soil Science, Environmental Science, Chemical or Biological Engineering, or related fields.
• Experience programming and operating laboratory automation platforms.
• Experience with analytical chemistry method development, validation, and QA/QC for high-throughput sample processing.
• Excellent written and oral…