Postdoctoral Research Associate, Electrical and Computer Engineering

Postdoctoral Research Associate, Electrical and Computer Engineering

The Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) Department at the University of Arizona invites a Postdoctoral Research Associate to work with Dr. Ehsan Azimi. The position focuses on cutting‑edge research at the intersection of robotics, control & prototyping, and AI/ML. The successful candidate will design, implement, and evaluate robotic systems, develop learning‑enabled perception, planning, and vision‑language model pipelines, disseminate research through publications and patents, mentor students, and contribute to course modules and workshops.

• Lead, design, build, and test cycles for robotic platforms and experimental rigs; develop real‑time control, perception, and planning modules; run structured experiments and benchmarking.
• Architect high‑quality research codebases in C++/Python/C# (e.g., ROS/ROS 2, real‑time frameworks, Unity/Unreal integration as needed); implement data pipelines, simulation, and CI/testing; maintain reproducible artifacts and documentation.
• Mentor undergraduate and graduate students; develop short course modules and/or run workshops in Robotics/AI/Control; support inclusive team culture and lab best practices.
• Lead and co‑author journal/conference papers; prepare manuscripts for publication in peer‑reviewed venues; create compelling presentations and demos; contribute to IP such as invention disclosures and patents; present research at national and international conferences.
• Contribute to proposal development and grant writing (including preliminary data, methods, budgets); prepare progress reports and coordinate with internal/external collaborators; interface with sponsors when applicable.
• Foster collaborations within the Department, across the University, and with team members at other institutes.
• Participate and contribute to meetings with industry, academia, and sponsors.
• Perform additional duties as assigned.

• Strong analytical, research, and technical writing skills.
• Effective oral and written communication skills.
• Deep knowledge of prototyping, specifically control (PID, MPC, optimal/robust, learning‑augmented); perception & planning; sensor fusion; calibration; system identification.
• Programming expertise in C++, Python, C#; ROS/ROS 2;
  Git;
  Linux; build systems (CMake); real‑time/latency‑aware coding; simulation (Gazebo, Isaac, Unity, Unreal).
• Familiarity with experimental design, statistics, ablation studies, replicable pipelines, and technical writing.
• Ability to create clear presentations and utilize strong interpersonal skills with a collaborative mindset; effective mentoring.

• PhD in Robotics, Electrical & Computer Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Biomedical Engineering, Computer Science, or a closely related field.
• PhD must be conferred at the time of hire.

• Hands‑on experience integrating hardware and software for robots (arms, mobile, mechatronics) and real‑time control.
• Experience in computer vision, multimodal perception, or foundation models (VLMs/LLMs) applied to robotics.
• Track record of patent contributions and/or technology transfer.
• Experience preparing grants (NSF/NIH/DoD/industry) and coordinating collaborative deliverables.
• Prior experience mentoring/teaching, curriculum or workshop development.
• Experience with safety standards for robotics labs and human–robot interaction studies.
• Experience with CUDA/accelerators; optimization; SLAM; tactile/force control; AR/XR interfaces;
  Unity/C# for robotics visualization;
  Dev Ops/containers.
• Experience with AI/ML: deep learning for vision/perception; VLMs and LLM tooling; dataset curation; evaluation/benchmarks; basic MLOps.

• Health, dental, vision, and life insurance
• Paid vacation, sick leave, and holidays
• Tuition reduction for employee and qualified family members at UA/ASU/NAU
• Access to university recreation and cultural activities
• Additional benefits supported by the institution

FLSA status:
Exempt. Full‑time employee. 40 hours per week.

Compensation: NIH salary guidelines – depends on experience.