NIST PREP Announcements

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  novel infrastructure materials and advanced metrology. NIST recognizes that its 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: Advanced Metrology for Novel Infrastructure Materials

The work will entail:

The Infrastructure Materials Group is seeking a highly motivated Research Associate to be a part of the
Forward Looking Building Standards initiative within NIST.
As the construction industry pivots toward low-carbon binders—such as Type IL (Portland-Limestone)
and Calcium Sulfoaluminate (CSA) cements—traditional prescriptive building codes are becoming
obsolete. We are looking for a researcher who can bridge the gap between fundamental geochemistry
and applied standardization. You will develop the measurement science required to predict the long-
term durability of these novel materials, ensuring the nation’s infrastructure remains resilient for
decades to come.
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) promotes U.S. innovation and industrial
competitiveness by advancing measurement science, standards, and technology in ways that enhance
economic security and improve our quality of life. Located in Gaithersburg, Maryland, NIST offers a
collaborative, interdisciplinary culture where you will work alongside some of the world’s leading
scientists and engineers to solve critical national challenges.
The Infrastructure Materials Group (IMG) serves as the nation’s premier resource for developing the
science-based tools—measurements, data, models, protocols, and reference standards—needed to
evaluate the performance of conventional and innovative building materials.  As part of the Engineering
Laboratory, the IMG focuses on predicting the service life of infrastructure components when exposed
to real-world and accelerated weathering environments. 
We are specifically targeting a researcher with a rigorous background in pore solution chemistry and
transport properties. The ideal candidate does not just run standard tests; they understand the
thermodynamic mechanisms driving durability. You should be comfortable moving between the wet lab
(extracting and analyzing pore solutions) and the computer (modeling phase assemblages and
quantifying uncertainty).
Experience determining the Formation Factor of concrete, using XRF for pore solution analysis, or
modeling hydration kinetics using GEMS/PHREEQC, are critical skills needed for this position.

Key responsibilities:

• Advance Measurement Science: Develop and validate novel test methods for characterizing alternative cementitious materials, with a specific focus on linking microstructural development to macro-scale transport properties.
• Pore Solution Characterization: Lead efforts to standardize X-ray Fluorescence (XRF) techniques for the elemental analysis of concrete pore solutions, establishing protocols for characterizing accuracy and repeatability.
• Durability Modeling: Apply thermodynamic modeling to predict phase changes (e.g., carbonation, chloride binding) in Type IL and CSA cements under varying climate scenarios.
• Uncertainty Quantification: Use advanced statistical frameworks (Bayesian inference, Monte Carlo simulations) to analyze experimental data, and to quantify the uncertainty in service-life predictions for code development.
• Code & Standard Development: Translate research findings into actionable proposals for ASTM and ACI committees, directly influencing the next generation of building codes.

Required qualifications:

• Education: Successful candidates should have completed a Ph.D. in any one of Chemistry, Physics, Mechanical Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Civil Engineering, or Materials Science at the time of the position start date, with a focus on chemistry and material science of cementitious materials.
• Cementitious Materials Science Background: Demonstrated experience conducting quantitative laboratory measurements on cementitious materials: X-ray diffraction (XRD), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), isothermal calorimetry, scanning electron microscopy (SEM).
• Modeling and Computational: Demonstrated experience using computation tools such as COMSOL, Python/Matlab/R.
• Uncertainty Quantification: Demonstrated ability to apply statistical methods to quantify the uncertainty of experimental measurements, beyond linear least-squares regression.

Preferred qualifications:

• Specialized Metrology: Peer-reviewed publication utilizing one of the following techniques
  • Quantitative Phase Analysis (QPA) using X-ray Diffraction, including the use of the Internal Standard Method to quantify amorphous contents in hydrated cementitious systems.
  • Composition Analysis using X-ray fluorescence to quantify the elemental composition of solutions.
• Transport & Durability: Demonstrated understanding of the Nernst-Einstein relationship, electrical resistivity measurements, and the determination of the Formation Factor in cementitious systems.
• Thermodynamic Modeling: Proficiency with geochemical modeling software (e.g., GEMS, PHREEQC, or Oli) to simulate cement hydration and phase stability in low-carbon binders.
• Alternative Binder Expertise: Demonstrated research experience with Calcium Sulfoaluminate (CSA) cements, Type IL cements, or alkali-activated materials.
• Currently living in the United States
• U.S. citizenship is preferred

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 fire hazard model development in commercial building environments. 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.

Project Description:

The goal of this project is to reduce firefighter deaths and injuries due to flashover and to enhance firefighting safety and situational awareness in commercial building environments.

Flashover is an extreme fire event. When it occurs, there is a near-simultaneous ignition of most of the directly exposed combustible materials within a compartment. Due to the large heat release rate, gas temperatures increase rapidly and may exceed 800 °C. Rapid fire progression, such as flashover, is the number-two cause of firefighter deaths and injuries. Over the past 10 years, approximately 700 firefighters were killed and more than 200,000 were injured. Unfortunately, there are still no tools that firefighters can use to detect flashover, so they rely on their past experience using so-called flashover indicators that are difficult to recognize. For these reasons, researchers at NIST have been developing data-driven models that can be used to help firefighters predict the potential of flashover.

Existing modeling approaches cannot be used in real-time firefighting due to two major problems. The first problem is that the existing models are numerically inefficient for real-time applications. Even when high performance computing is being used, a single calculation takes more than 5 minutes. The second problem is that the fire scenarios being considered by these models are oversimplified. Sensors are assumed to work at extremely high temperatures and the fire locations and vent opening conditions are assumed to be well known. In real-life situations, however, sensors will fail and the inside conditions are never known. NIST has established a smart firefighting project to enhance firefighting safety and situational awareness by enabling real-time prediction of flashover conditions in commercial building environments. To reach this goal, the relationships of fire data, such as temperature, smoke, and species concentrations, and the effect of data quality, must be understood to use machine learning for effective real-time predictions.

Key responsibilities:

• Acquire fire data, including gas temperatures, smoke concentrations, and gas species concentrations from realistic fire scenarios in commercial building environments using CFAST Data Generation (CData). The scenarios include various arbitrary building structures, different fire locations, a wide range of burning items, various door and window opening conditions simulating fire events such as glass breakage and evacuation, and operational temperature limits for fire protection sensors to account for loss of sensor signals. The PREP researcher will be responsible for collecting fire data from realistic fire scenarios and will lead the study of data behavior.
• Develop an accurate and numerically efficient prediction model that can correlate flashover conditions to the corresponding temperature behaviors. The model not only needs to overcome the limitations of available fire data, but it must be generalized so that the model can be applied to any building structures without the need of prior knowledge of the building layout and interior conditions. The PREP researcher will be responsible for helping to develop the model and will lead in optimizing the model.
• Collaborate and coordinate our research with the existing fire research community which is focusing on fundamental studies of the onset of flashover, development of machine learning based models, integration of fire modeling into fire protection systems, etc. The purpose of this thrust is to use our data to reduce firefighter deaths and injuries due to flashover by supporting the development of data-driven modeling framework to enhance firefighting safety and situational awareness. The PREP researcher will help develop research plans and assist in the transfer of NIST research to stakeholders by participating in meetings, giving presentations, and preparing reports.

Desired qualifications:

• U.S. Citizen Preferred.
• A Ph.D. degree in Architecture and Civil Engineering, Safety Science and Engineering, Safety
• Engineering, Fire Protection Engineering, or similar field.
• Solid background on Fire Safety/Protection Engineering is preferred.
• Proficient in CData, CFAST, FDS.
• Proficient in Python, MATLAB, and R.
• Well-established publication record in Q1 SCI journals.
• Practical research experience in building recommendation systems and use of computer clusters.

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  life-cycle assessment and uncertainty quantification for forward-looking building design. 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.

Description of Work:

A research scientist is sought to support a project on life-cycle assessment and uncertainty quantification for forward-looking building design. Functional recovery design has emerged as a new design approach that aims to expedite building recovery and enhance community resilience to natural disasters. To harness its benefits, it is crucial to understand the long-term implications of this design approach. Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a method commonly employed to evaluate the lifelong impacts of a building. However, the impact of post-disaster repairs is not well integrated into building LCA practices. The lack of standardized methodologies and guidelines for incorporating seismic risk into LCA may hinder the ability of designers, owners, and policymakers to make informed decisions about building design. In addition, current building codes and standards are often inadequate for protecting assets against the changing frequency and severity of natural hazards. To address this, new standards (such as ASCE 7-28) are introducing chapters to account for projected changes in hazards like wind, tornadoes, and floods. However, these future conditions introduce significant aleatory and epistemic uncertainties that challenge traditional engineering design.
The research scientist will evaluate the impact of changing hazard conditions on design requirements and analyze the uncertainty of structural designs to prevent either overly conservative or underly cautious outcomes. This work will advance understanding of uncertainties in designing and retrofitting buildings, ultimately supporting the adoption of forward-looking building standards in the context of deep uncertainty. Additionally, the researcher will work to evaluate design trade-offs across the entire building life cycle. By quantifying how enhanced design reduces future damage, repair costs, and demolition impacts, this work will provide evidence for multi-objective performance targets in future
building standards.

Key responsibilities:

• Integrate natural hazard impacts, especially seismic risks, into the LCA framework for a comprehensive evaluation of building performance.
• Perform life cycle assessments (LCA) for reinforced concrete moment frame and shear wall buildings to demonstrate the impact of functional recovery design.
• Conduct a detailed review of methodologies, assumptions, and datasets referenced in building codes, standards, and provisions, specifically regarding hazard loads such as wind, flood, and snow.
• Quantify uncertainties related to future hazard changes in structural design requirements using the non-stationary reliability method to calibrate load and resistance factors.
• Apply performance-based assessment methodologies to conduct in-depth uncertainty analysis for buildings with high-performance requirements, such as hospitals.
• Review literature on reliability models for evaluating structural failure under hazard loads and draft content for publication.
• Document findings and collaborate with colleagues at NIST to publish research findings and results into NIST Technical reports and high-impact journal articles.

Desired qualifications:

• U.S. Citizen Preferred
• A Ph.D. in Civil Engineering (focus on Structural Engineering preferred).
• Extensive experience in building life cycle analysis (LCA) and quantifying the impacts of building construction and repair.
• Strong background in economics, structural engineering, risk assessment for various hazards, and performance-based earthquake engineering.
• Demonstrated expertise in benefit-cost analysis and uncertainty quantification (UQ).
• Excellent record of research and technical writing for both academic and practitioner audiences.
• Ability to work effectively both independently and as part of a multi-disciplinary, collaborative team to meet project milestones.

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 decision-science for a circular economy. 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: Decision-Science for a Circular Economy

The position is in the Applied Economics Office (AEO), a part of the Engineering Laboratory (EL) at NIST, which 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. AEO is integrated within EL’s major research thrusts. AEO delivers high quality research and tool development that informs and assists stakeholders in their decision-making processes.

The work will entail:

We are seeking an experienced post-doctoral researcher to produce rigorous, publication-quality research on consumer perceptions and preferences in two projects that focus on the circular economy. This role requires deep expertise in advanced survey methodologies, experimental design, and statistical modeling. The ideal candidate has a strong research publication record and experience managing large-scale surveys data. The two projects the post-doctoral associate will support are focused on consumer preferences for battery electric vehicle information and consumer preference for circular plastic products.

Key responsibilities will include but are not limited to:

• Design and implementation of quantitative research studies, including stated preference surveys and conjoint experiments.
• Apply advanced discrete choice models, latent class models, clustering techniques, to uncover heterogeneous preferences and segment-specific insights.
• Translate complex statistical outputs into clear, decision-relevant metrics such as willingness-to-pay, demand elasticities, and adoption likelihoods.
• Ensure analytical rigor consistent with peer-reviewed academic standards.
• Author and co-author peer-reviewed journal articles, conference papers and technical reports.
• Work collaboratively with an inter-disciplinary team of researchers.

Qualifications:

• Ph.D. in Economics, Engineering, or a related quantitative field
• Experience conducting applied survey research and quantitative analysis
• Demonstrated expertise in:
  • Survey design and implementation
  • Conjoint analysis and discrete choice modeling
  • Segmentation and clustering methods
• Strong publication record in peer-reviewed journals
• Proficiency in R and statistical modeling tools (e.g., Mplus, SPSS); experience with GIS or visualization tools is a plus
• Experience coding surveys in survey down or similar open-source survey tool
• At least 3 peer-reviewed publications
• At least one first authored peer-reviewed publication using survey data
• Excellent writing and communication skills
• Self-driven and capable of working independently with minimal supervision
• US Citizen Preferred

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