Author: Donna Jeno-Amici

This position is part of the National Institute of Standards (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 requiring 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.

Position description

The Automated Vehicle (AV) program at NIST is seeking a candidate to work on a project related to the robustness of AI perception for self-driving cars. NIST is leading a multidisciplinary effort which aims at developing a testbed (physical and simulated) to test on-road driving scenarios when facing perturbations (natural and deliberate/adversarial) on the roadway. The project requires a candidate with multidisciplinary skills that will execute multiple tasks which focus on AI perception and decision-making testing, evaluation, and integration with a physical testbed (physical vehicle). The candidate will follow guidance from the project leaders.

Key responsibilities will include but are not limited to:

• Expand the AI perception (object detection and classification) testing capabilities to assess their robustness and readiness for on-road use by incorporating LIDAR and camera data, including estimation of uncertainties in detection and classification.

• Investigate the impact of uncertainties on other critical systems, such as decision-making and path planning.

• Work on developing a public-facing Web portal to host services that expose advanced AI perception testing capabilities tailored to the needs of the AV community of stakeholders. Coordinate with external stakeholders to ensure smooth technology transfer.

• Write papers to describe current work and submit to journals with a focus on AI perception and decision-making efforts.

• Align AI perception and decision-making work with other NIST AV teams using collaboration and communication.

• Draft test plans for AI team further assisting with designing uncertainty experiments in CARLA and participate in weekly discussions.

• Assist in implementing software packages and prototypes using ROS2 and python to use AI models for perception and decision-making for deploying current AI efforts on the development mule (NIST autonomous vehicle).

Qualifications

• PhD or (BS + 5 years of experience) in the following or related fields (Computer Science, Electrical engineering, Mechanical engineering, Computer engineering, Robotics)
• Experience with programming in Python and C++.
• Experience with PyTorch or TensorFlow for AI model development and testing.
• Experience with AI model development and testing, including uncertainty associated with detection and classification.
• Experience with AI model hosting platforms (e.g., Ultralytics)
• Good knowledge and skills with ROS2 on Linux systems.
  • Be able to work on both Linux and Windows

• Experience with version control software and workflow (Git/Github/Gitlab)

Other relevant experience:

• Experience in measurement, testing, and evaluation of software.
• Report writing and making presentations with relevant figures/illustrations/data.
• Strong oral and written communication skills that convey ideas and work in an efficient manner.
• Good documentation of the work that enables reproduction of the tests and results.

Please upload the following (preferably in a single PDF) with your application:

• CV/Resume

Privacy Act Statement

Authority: 15 U.S.C. § 278g-1(e)(1) and (e)(3) and 15 U.S.C. § 272(b) and (c)

Purpose: The National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST) hosts the Professional Research Experience Program (PREP) which is designed to provide valuable laboratory experience and financial assistance to undergraduates, post-bachelor’s degree holders, graduate students, master’s degree holders, postdocs, and faculty.

PREP is a 5-year cooperative agreement between NIST laboratories and participating PREP Universities to establish a collaborative research relationship between NIST and U.S. institutions of higher education in the following disciplines including (but may not be limited to) biochemistry, biological sciences, chemistry, computer science, engineering, electronics, materials science, mathematics, nanoscale science, neutron science, physical science, physics, and statistics. This collection of information is needed to facilitate administrative functions of the PREP Program.

Routine Uses: NIST will use the information collected to perform the requisite reviews of the applications to determine eligibility, and to meet programmatic requirements. Disclosure of this information is also subject to all the published routine uses as identified in the Privacy Act System of Records Notices: NIST-1: NIST Associates.

Disclosure: Furnishing this information is voluntary. When you submit the form, you are indicating your voluntary consent for NIST to use of the information you submit for the purpose stated.

• Announcement and Application

This position is part of the National Institute of Standards (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.

Research Title: Research Associate – Measurement Services PREP

The work will entail: The successful candidate will contribute to cutting-edge research projects focused on developing and applying innovative measurement techniques. This role offers a unique opportunity to work alongside experienced researchers and collaborate with interdisciplinary teams to address critical scientific challenges.

Key responsibilities will include but are not limited to:

• Conduct independent research in the field of measurement science, including designing experiments, collecting, and analyzing data, and interpreting results.
• Develop and apply advanced measurement techniques and instrumentation to address specific research questions.
• Collaborate with other researchers within the team and across different disciplines to foster a collaborative research environment.
• Contribute to the preparation of scientific publications and presentations.

Qualifications

• Undergraduate, Graduate or Ph.D. in Measurement Science, Physics, Chemistry, Engineering, or a related field.
• Strong background in experimental research methods and techniques.
• Experience with [relevant measurement techniques, e.g., spectroscopy, microscopy, metrology].
• Proficiency in data analysis and visualization tools.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills.
• Ability to work independently and as part of a team.
• A passion for scientific discovery and a commitment to excellence.

Please upload the following (preferably in a single PDF) with your application:

• CV/Resume

• Announcement and Application

Privacy Act Statement

Authority:  15 U.S.C. § 278g-1(e)(1) and (e)(3) and 15 U.S.C. § 272(b) and (c)

Purpose:  The National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST) hosts the  Professional Research Experience Program (PREP) which is designed to provide valuable laboratory experience and financial assistance to undergraduates, post-bachelor’s degree holders, graduate students, master’s degree holders, postdocs, and faculty.  

PREP is a 5-year cooperative agreement between NIST laboratories and participating PREP Universities to establish a collaborative research relationship between NIST and U.S. institutions of higher education in the following disciplines including (but may not be limited to) biochemistry, biological sciences, chemistry, computer science, engineering, electronics, materials science, mathematics, nanoscale science, neutron science, physical science, physics, and statistics. This collection of information is needed to facilitate administrative functions of the PREP Program.

Routine Uses:  NIST will use the information collected to perform the requisite reviews of the applications to determine eligibility, and to meet programmatic requirements. Disclosure of this information is also subject to all the published routine uses as identified in the Privacy Act System of Records Notices:  NIST-1: NIST Associates. 

Disclosure:  Furnishing this information is voluntary. When you submit the form, you are indicating your voluntary consent for NIST to use of the information you submit for the purpose stated.

This position is part of the National Institute of Standards (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.

Research Title: Sustainability-Resilience Framework Fellow

Goals and Approach:

The PREP researcher will focus time on efforts that support the project: “Cost-Effective Resource Allocation Strategies for Community Resilience.” (Applied Economics Office, Dr. Jennifer Helgeson and Dr. Christina Gore)

It is expected that the PREP Researcher will engage in all steps of the research process, including but not limited to: Literature review, data collection, data analysis, preparation of reports and archival journal articles, as well as reporting and communication with stakeholders.

The objective of this role is to support community resilience planning through the development of methods and tools that evaluate the economic impacts of disruptive events and persistent stressors, while accounting for stakeholder perceptions and associated decisions related to future event uncertainty and co-benefit (co-cost) valuation. There will be special focus on criteria and methods to improve the resilient performance of structural systems in the built environment while maintaining cost-effectiveness and supporting community-defined objectives in addition to resilience.

There is a shocking lack of coordination across Greenhouse Gas mitigation and climate resilience and adaptation. This researcher will address identification of and suggestions for core needs for analyzing the synergies and tradeoffs in evaluation of climate change mitigation and adaptation (and resilience) together.

This research will explore synergies, and possibly tradeoffs, between adaptation and mitigation. It is clear that ambitious GHG mitigation is also critical to adaptation success. As noted by the AR6 IPCC Synthesis Report, “The effectiveness of adaptation, including ecosystem-based and most water-related options, will decrease with increasing warming”. At the same time, some mitigation measures, deployed at certain scales, can have negative impacts on sustainable development and adaptation. For example, afforestation or production of biomass crops can have adverse socio-economic and environmental impacts, including on biodiversity, food and water security, local livelihoods and the rights of Indigenous Peoples, especially if implemented at large scales. Many gaps in knowledge remain about these synergies and tradeoffs and frameworks for assessment. This work will highlight system transitions that can help exploit synergies and avoid trade-off, and also try to identify critical areas for future research. This will include: new modeling approaches, interdisciplinarity, bringing together qualitative and quantitative information, and developing more inclusive scenarios. The researcher may draw from peer-reviewed and gray literature as well as research focused on cases in both the Global North and Global South for application to the U.S. context.

Key responsibilities will include but are not limited to:

• Collaborate on data and methods to improve the methodology for measuring economic impact of community resilience planning, which is organized around the performance metric of ‘cost plus loss’ minimization – i.e., the economically optimal level of investment in prevention and mitigation activities to reduce future disturbance and disaster-related losses, as well as related expenditures that minimize the combined investment cost plus the value of expected losses.
• Create a corpus of papers that discuss frameworks relevant topics.
• Create a review document of frameworks for:
  • Climate change adaptation
  • GHG mitigation
  • Community resilience
  • Combinations thereof
• Compare and contrast the different frameworks within the review document of where they are compatible and where there need to be improvements to create one unified framework.

Qualifications:

• Pursuing a graduate degree in Economics, Social Science, Policy, Environmental Science, Law, or related field.
• At least one year of relevant research experience.
• Background in econometrics or statistics and at least two of the following areas:
  • Applied microeconomics
  • Climate change
  • Decision-science or behavioral-science
  • Environmental economics
  • Environmental Law
  • Environmental Science
  • Non-market valuation
  • Policy
  • Regional economics
  • Risk and uncertainty
  • Social Science
• Strong oral and written communication skills.

Please upload the following (preferably in a single PDF) with your application:

• CV/Resume

• Announcement and Application

Privacy Act Statement

Authority: 15 U.S.C. § 278g-1(e)(1) and (e)(3) and 15 U.S.C. § 272(b) and (c)

Purpose: The National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST) hosts the Professional Research Experience Program (PREP) which is designed to provide valuable laboratory experience and financial assistance to undergraduates, post-bachelor’s degree holders, graduate students, master’s degree holders, postdocs, and faculty.

PREP is a 5-year cooperative agreement between NIST laboratories and participating PREP Universities to establish a collaborative research relationship between NIST and U.S. institutions of higher education in the following disciplines including (but may not be limited to) biochemistry, biological sciences, chemistry, computer science, engineering, electronics, materials science, mathematics, nanoscale science, neutron science, physical science, physics, and statistics. This collection of information is needed to facilitate the administrative functions of the PREP Program.

Routine Uses: NIST will use the information collected to perform the requisite reviews of the applications to determine eligibility, and to meet programmatic requirements. Disclosure of this information is also subject to all the published routine uses as identified in the Privacy Act System of Records Notices: NIST-1: NIST Associates.

Disclosure: Furnishing this information is voluntary. When you submit the form, you are indicating your voluntary consent for NIST to use of the information you submit for the purpose stated.

This position is part of the National Institute of Standards (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.

Research Title:

Synthetic biology technician

The work will entail:

The Biosystems and Biomaterials Division at NIST is seeking to hire a biology wet lab technician with expertise in synthetic biology. The person hired for this position will work with a multidisciplinary team to support the development and execution of a variety of biological measurements.

Key responsibilities will include but are not limited to:

• Support the NIST Engineering Biology program by executing experiments and overseeing general lab operations.
• Maintain laboratory equipment and general lab supplies/consumables, with minimal oversight.
• Works with the engineering biology team to prepare engineered microbial strains and DNA plasmids.
• Includes growing and characterizing microorganisms and evaluating cellular properties.
• Prepares microbial culture media; sterilizes labware; performs DNA cloning and transformations; extracts nucleic acids for molecular detection methods including nest generation sequencing.
• Keep consistent documentation and data entry.

Qualifications

• A Master’s degree in chemical engineering, bioengineering, cell biology, chemistry, physics, synthetic biology, or a related field.
• Three (3) years of relevant experience.
• Strong oral and written communication skills.

Please upload the following (preferably in a single PDF) with your application:

• CV/Resume

• Announcement and Application

Privacy Act Statement

Authority: 15 U.S.C. § 278g-1(e)(1) and (e)(3) and 15 U.S.C. § 272(b) and (c)

Purpose: The National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST) hosts the Professional Research Experience Program (PREP) which is designed to provide valuable laboratory experience and financial assistance to undergraduates, post-bachelor’s degree holders, graduate students, master’s degree holders, postdocs, and faculty.

PREP is a 5-year cooperative agreement between NIST laboratories and participating PREP Universities to establish a collaborative research relationship between NIST and U.S. institutions of higher education in the following disciplines including (but may not be limited to) biochemistry, biological sciences, chemistry, computer science, engineering, electronics, materials science, mathematics, nanoscale science, neutron science, physical science, physics, and statistics. This collection of information is needed to facilitate the administrative functions of the PREP Program.

Routine Uses: NIST will use the information collected to perform the requisite reviews of the applications to determine eligibility, and to meet programmatic requirements. Disclosure of this information is also subject to all the published routine uses as identified in the Privacy Act System of Records Notices: NIST-1: NIST Associates.

Disclosure: Furnishing this information is voluntary. When you submit the form, you are indicating your voluntary consent for NIST to use of the information you submit for the purpose stated.