Category: Remote

PREP0004123 Research Associate: Understanding failure in novel microelectronics material systems (CHIPS Funded)

NISTP MML – 63 has a new PREP research opportunity described below and in the attached (PREP0004123). The NIST Sponsor is seeking candidate recommendations.

  • Project Title/Description: Understanding failure in novel microelectronics material systems
  • OU: MML – 63
  • Div: 643
  • Group: Nanomechanical Properties Group
  • Level of Appointment: Senior Research Fellow
  • Schedule of Appointment: part time
  • Total Hours per week: 14
  • Work Location: Remote
  • Requested Start Date: 2026-06-09
  • End Date: 2027-09-30

PREP0004155: AI Researcher: Engineering Biology

NIST MML – 63 has a new PREP research opportunity described below and in the attached (PREP0004155). The NIST Sponsor is seeking candidate recommendations.

  • Project Title/Description: AI Researcher: Engineering Biology
  • OU: MML – 63
  • Div: 644
  • Group: Cellular Engineering Group
  • Level of Appointment: Post-doctoral Fellow
  • Schedule of Appointment: full time
  • Total Hours per week: 40
  • Work Location: PPhysically at NIST (Gaithersburg, MD),Telework
  • Requested Start Date: 2026-06-09
  • End Date: 2027-05-07

PREP0004133: Research Associate: Nonstructural Element Database Development

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 nonstructural element database development. 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.

The work will entail:

A senior researcher or a faculty member is sought for a position in Structural Engineering to support the development and implementation of a new nonstructural component fragility and consequence database for performance-based hazard assessments of buildings. NIST has recently developed a relational database focusing on nonstructural elements in buildings, NED (Nonstructural Element Database), which collects information from experimental, analytical, and historic performance observations into seismic fragilities and consequence models to support building-specific seismic performance research and assessments, refactoring and expanding upon the FEMA P-58 database as the standard of practice for seismic risk assessment. Currently, the project is still in its active development and does not yet have consequence models or data from historical events, but it has collected over 2500 experimental data points and compiled a fragility data set that includes and expands upon the full FEMA P-58 nonstructural database. NIST will supplement its capacities with input from PREP Fellow experts in the areas of component damage consequence modeling and database schema design. The PREP Fellow will work with NIST researchers to develop and implement a new consequence model data schema and consequence estimation procedures within the NED database. The work, to be completed in collaboration with NIST researchers and other external contractors, will be comprised of the following five major tasks: (1) review, refactoring and forward developing of the current database architecture and data schema, (2) development of a general consequence model database architecture and schema, and (3) implementation of new consequence models into the database, (4) back-end and front-end software development, and (5) documentation of developments and tools and dissemination in technical reports and professional conferences.

Key responsibilities:

  • Review the current design and data schema of the NED database, paying specific attention to missing data representations, duplicity in data design, points of unclarity, and capability to scale with new data and meet future use cases.
  • Conceptualize and design a robust and scalable data schema to integrate consequence models into the NED architecture.
  • Work closely with NIST researchers and external collaborators to iterate and improve upon the database design as well as support the implementation of the database.
  • Direct development of the database tool and supporting database management software.
  • Direct development and deployment of web-based front-end software tools to support direct user interaction with the database.
  • Contributing to the publication of a NIST report and data repository documenting the database.

Desired qualifications:

  • U.S. citizenship is preferred.
  • A Ph.D.in Civil Engineering with a focus on Structural Engineering or a related field.
  • An excellent record of research, publications, and strong communication skills.
  • A strong background in engineering, natural hazards, and probabilistic risk assessment including uncertainty quantification.
  • More than 7 years of experience in software development.
  • Experience in the development, application, and implementation of the FEMA P-58 performancebased assessment framework and associated fragility database.
  • Experience in developing and deploying Python tools and libraries.
  • Experience in SQL database development and the Django Python package.
  • Experience developing and managing git repositories and deploying software to web-based platforms.
  • Experience in designing, implementing and managing code quality assurance plans and test suites, including unit tests, continues integration tests, linting and style conformance checks, and benchmarking tests.
  • The ability to work both independently and as part of a larger, multi-disciplinary team to achieve project objectives and meet project deadlines and reporting requirements.

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.

PREP Research Associate: Nonstructural Element Database Development

NIST EL – 73 has a new PREP research opportunity described below and in the attached (PREP 0004133). The NIST Sponsor is seeking candidate recommendations.

  • Project Title/Description: Nonstructural Element Database Development
  • OU: EL – 73
  • Div: 731
  • Group: Earthquake Engineering Group
  • Level of Appointment: Senior Research Fellow
  • Schedule of Appointment: part time
  • Total Hours per week: 6
  • Work Location: Physically at University,Remote
  • Requested Start Date: 2026-06-04
  • End Date: 2026-12-03

PREP0004100 — PREP Post-Bachelors Researcher: Post-bach Research Assistant Applied Economics Office

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 collaborative research in applied economics and decision science. 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.

The work will entail:

The position will collaborate with NIST researchers and NIST’s external collaborators in a variety of topics relevant to their work including social scientists, engineers, and scientists – connecting economics to fundamental research, multi-disciplinary analysis, and decision support tools related to activities across a range of research topic areas, building and infrastructure, resilience, and decision science. Initial activities will include evaluating consumer preferences for product labeling and demonstrating the benefits and costs of alternatives.

The position is in the Applied Economics Office (AEO), a part of the Engineering Laboratory (EL) at NIST, provides economic products and services through research and consulting to industry and government agencies in support of productivity enhancement, economic growth, and international competitiveness, with a focus on improving the life-cycle quality and economy of constructed facilities and manufacturing processes that support social and economic functions. The AEO is integrated within EL’s major research thrusts: energy conservation, community resilience planning, manufacturing, fire, building construction, and safety. The AEO delivers high quality research and tool development that informs and assists stakeholders in their decision-making processes.

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. Additionally, this researcher will work on the Hurricane Maria Investigation and Supplemental project on Hurricane Fionia and their impact on Puerto Rico.

Key responsibilities will include but are not limited to:

  • Analyzing data
  • Reviewing relevant literature
  • Designing data collection instruments (surveys)
  • Writing reports and research articles
  • Publishing within refereed journals and technical research series
  • Communicating research at professional conferences

Qualifications:

  • US Citizen
  • Bachelor’s degree in Economics
  • At least one year of relevant research experience
  • Proficiency in Stata (hypothesis testing, causal analysis, data visualization)
  • Proficiency in Zotero or similar
  • Proficiency in Excel (large scale data cleaning, validation, and visualization)
  • At least one peer-reviewed publication in a professional journal
  • At least one first author technical publication
  • Experience in quantitative and qualitative data analysis
  • At least one conference presentation
  • Experience working with LLMs
  • Proficiency in LaTeX (Overleaf)
  • Strong oral and written communication skills
  • Logical thinking and problem solving
  • Patience and attention to detail
  • Excellent writing and communication skills

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

  • Job Description
  • 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.

PREP Post-Bachelors Researcher: Post-bach Research Assistant Applied Economics Office

NIST EL – 73 has a new PREP research opportunity described below and in the attached (PREP0004100). The NIST Sponsor is seeking candidate recommendations.

  • Project Title/Description: Post-bach Research Assistant Applied Economics Office
  • OU: EL – 73
  • Div: 730
  • Group: Applied Economics Office
  • Level of Appointment:  Post Bachelor’s Degree
  • Schedule of Appointment: full time
  • Total Hours per week: 40
  • Work Location: Remote
  • Requested Start Date: 2026-05-27
  • End Date: 2027-05-27