Category: Gaithersburg

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: Evaluation of search, natural language processing, multimedia, and generative information systems.

The work will entail:

The National Institute of Standards and Technology’s (NIST) Information Technology Laboratory is seeking a qualified candidate to support the Text Retrieval Conference (TREC, trec.nist.gov). TREC evaluates AI technologies in information retrieval (IR), search, natural language processing, and multimedia search, creating human-labeled data to measure effectiveness. TREC hosts annual evaluations & workshops, releasing datasets and research papers upon completion. The candidate for this position will work alongside world-class researchers at NIST

U.S. Citizen Preferred

Key responsibilities will include but are not limited to:

• Develop software for topic creation, relevance assessment, and generative output annotation.
• Develop scoring software for evaluation outputs.
• Develop and maintain systems used to register, submit outputs, and see evaluation results.
• Conduct research on evaluating information access systems, including but are not limited to:
  • Automating the evaluation of AI-generated outputs.
  • Leveraging human insight and expertise with AI support for data annotation and evaluation.
  • Designing metrics for AI-generated outputs in information-seeking contexts.
  • Interfaces for annotating data that support consistency and identify errors.
  • Quality control processes for data annotation.
  • Leaderboard designs that support cooperative research instead of competition.

Qualifications:

• A PhD degree in Computer Science.
• 5+ years of relevant experience.
• Experience building systems with large language models as components.
• Familiarity with Docker and Git.
• Experience with Python, JavaScript, and web frameworks such as React and Django.
• Ability to develop prototypes of tools needed to analyze data.
• Strong oral and written communication skills.

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. National Institute of Standards (NIST) Professional Research Experience (PREP) program invites applicants in support of research in assay development for microparticle measurements in microfluidics. 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: Control and measurement of microparticle in microfluidics

The work will entail:

This research project will entail design and testing of new methods for manipulation and optical characterization of materials in microflows. The scientist will work closely with a collaborative, multidisciplinary team of researchers to design, build, and model novel instrumentation that provides measurements of chemicals, microparticles, cells and cellular organelles in optofluidic measurement systems. The scientist will conduct experiments to estimate chemical mixing times, particle sizes and counts, fluorophore quantification limits, and limits to dynamic measurement delays that may be limited, for example, by particle tracking capabilities. The scientist will maintain cells and prepare assays of beads, cells, and organelles that will be used in devices that can passively purify reagents in flow (e.g. inertial focusing and dynamic lateral displacement arrays). Devices to stimulate and assess cellular function will also be fabricated and tested. Fluorescence microscopy and conventional flow cytometry will be utilized to benchmark measurements.

Key responsibilities:

• Maintain cells and prepare reagents
• Design, build and use microfluidic devices with integrated optical measurement regions
• Analyze cell and particle measurements in microfluidic devices and in culture via microscopy
• Presenting results at internal meetings, and occasional meetings with external stakeholders.
• Ensuring that results, protocols, software, and documentation have been archived or otherwise transmitted to the larger organization.

Qualifications:

• U.S. Citizen Preferred
• A doctoral degree in Biomedical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Chemistry, or a related field.
• 3+ years of experience with microfluidics device design, control, and use
• Experience with clean room photolithography
• Experience with fluorescence microscopy
• Familiarity with Matlab software for instrument control and data analysis
• Familiarity with flow cytometry
• Strong oral and written communication skills

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. National Institute of Standards (NIST) Professional Research Experience (PREP) program invites applicants in support of research in assay development for cell-free expression systems. 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 Scientist for Cell-free Expression System Metrology

The work will entail:

The Materials Measurement Laboratory of the National Institute of Standards and Technology is seeking qualified U.S. Citizens to support the Cellular Engineering Group and NIST Engineering Biology Program, by leading projects to develop measurement assurance for cell-free expression systems from diverse samples, including reconstituted and microbial samples. Leads the development of characterization assays for cell-free systems. Assists automating reagent preparation, cell-free reaction assembly, and characterization, using the NIST Living Measurement Systems Foundry (LMSF) and other laboratory
automation. Analyzes experimental and simulation data, including uncertainty and other statistical analyses. Documents and manages protocols, data, and analyses. Regularly presents and discusses
progress with the larger organization.

U.S. Citizen Preferred

Key responsibilities:

• Leads, plans, and carries out difficult and complex assignments in cell-free expression systems and RNA circuits with limited supervision.
• Completed work has a sound overall approach and effectively meets requirements.
• Communicates effectively with peers and stakeholders to plan share work outputs.

Qualifications:

• A Doctoral degree in chemical engineering, bioengineering, cell biology, chemistry, physics, synthetic biology, or a related field.
• Demonstrated knowledge of cell biology, molecular biology, microbial culture, reconstituted and lysate-based cell-free expression systems, and synthetic/engineering biology.
• Demonstrated leadership and management of technical projects and programs.
• 5 years of relevant experience.
• Strong oral and written communication skills.

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