Postdoctoral Researcher ( PREP0002247)

Posted: 12-Mar-24

Location: Gaithersburg, Maryland

Type: Full-time

Salary: Open

Categories:

Academic/Faculty
Other – Academic/Faculty

Internal Number: A-142640-26

General Description

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 and thus requires that such institutions receive a PREP award. The PREP program requires staff from various backgrounds to work on scientific research in many areas. Employees in this position will perform technical work that underpins the scientific study of the collaboration.

The fire modeling community is working to predict material flammability behavior quantitatively (e.g., ignition, burning rate, fire growth). State-of-the-art fire models require input parameters (material properties) that describe combustible solids’ decomposition reaction mechanism (and associated kinetics and thermodynamics) and relevant heat/mass transport properties.

To address this need, the NIST Fire Research Division has been developing experimental and analytical tools to calibrate these material properties and validate their ability to predict flammability response across a range of configurations/scales (i.e., mg-scale thermal decomposition, g-scale gasification/burning, and flame spread over panels between 0.5 m and 2.5 m tall).

The Engineered Fire Safe Products (EFSP) Project is focused on developing a database that maintains the tools (experimental and analytical), measurement data (for model calibration and validation), and material property sets necessary to quantitatively predict material flammability behavior (e.g., ignition, steady burning, and fire growth). Specific needs include testing and analyzing experimental measurement data for fire model calibration and validation.

The PREP researcher will be responsible for:

–         Assisting in the development, implementation, and leadership of a research plan to quantify fire growth rate, flame structure, condensed-phase response, and mass loss & heat release rate of combustible solids burning at the intermediate scale (emphasis on materials that deform; e.g., due to melt flow or charring/smoldering).

–         Applying and advancing state-of-the-art techniques to quantify the mechanisms controlling material flammability; iterative development and implementation of analytical tools to process these results.

–         Development and execution of plans for transferring NIST research through meetings, workshops, and conferences; preparing and presenting measurement results (oral presentations and written reports).

Key responsibilities will include but are not limited to:

–         Independently (and as part of a team) designing and conducting bench-, intermediate-, and full-scale fire experiments.

–         Processing, analyzing, and reporting on (written and visualization) experimental measurements.

–         Developing and using mathematical models that predict critical combustion, heat transfer and flame spread phenomena that can be coupled to computational fluid dynamics fire models.

–         Support in tech transfer of test results: staying current with relevant literature and developments in the field; preparing and presenting literature reviews; leading and co-authoring papers, presentations and reports; participating in conferences and workshops.

Qualifications

–         PhD in Engineering (fire protection, materials science, mechanical), Chemistry, Physics, or a related field

–         2 year(s) of relevant lab experience (i.e., experimental design and testing).

–         Excellent oral and written communication skills.

–         Excellent time management and organizational skills.

–         Proficiency in programming/data analysis tools (e.g., Excel, MATLAB, Python, R).

–         Ability to work independently and as part of a team to learn new activities and skills.

–         Ability and enthusiasm to help lead early-career researchers as part of a research team.

Application Instructions

Please incldue a C.V and 2 refrences. 

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.

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