Chemistry and Material Lab Technician and/or Coordinator

You will be appointed at the Aachen-Maastricht Institute for Biobased Materials (AMIBM) , which is part of the Faculty of Science and Engineering (FSE). There will be strong interactions with the Circular Chemical Engineering (CCE) institute. Embedded in both groups, you will be housed and do your daily work at the Brightlands-Chemelot Campus in Geleen (NL), where the labs of AMIBM are located.

As a Chemistry and Material Lab Technician Coordinator, you manage state-of-the-art equipment for synthesis and characterization of organic compounds and polymers. You are responsible for the maintenance and operation of various analytical equipment, such as gas and liquid chromatography, gel permeation chromatography, titration equipment, viscosimetry, , solvent drying equipment, nuclear magnetic resonance, FTIR spectroscopy, matrix assisted laser desorption ionization mass spectrometry, as well as synthetic equipment like parallel synthesis equipment, glove boxes, various reactor types for polymerization, synthesis under microwave and flow conditions or under high-pressure. Besides various microscopy techniques, you master thermal, thermo-mechanical and mechanical analytical techniques like thermogravimetric analysis, differential scanning calorimetry, dynamic mechanical thermal analysis, and rheology with an eye on polymer processing technologies like extrusion, spinning, injection molding and additive manufacturing.

You support and instruct researchers and students with analytical questions and equipment handling as well as with synthetic and engineering problems. You are also involved in the design and construction of laboratory set-ups, protocols and help to translate ideas into practical, feasible solutions, always keeping a sharp eye on the safety aspects. You are responsible for keeping the equipment up-to-date and you get in touch with suppliers in case there are problems you cannot solve. This also includes the maintenance of standard lab equipment like vacuum pumps, cooling devices, glassware, LN2 dewars, rotavapors etc, and small-scale polymer processing equipment.

Management of the biobased monomers and polymers collections and database of our labs also belongs to your task. This includes ordering and stock management of chemicals and consumables, registration of chemicals in the central database, coordination of weekly lab cleaning, safety management and instructions, waste deposition, coordination with the glassblower, monitoring calibrations, etc.

From teaching point of view, you will take care of chemistry/engineering related lab sessions in bachelor programs as well as lab sessions on polymer, organic and plasma chemistry and coating technology in master programs in which our institutes are involved.

As an experienced lab member, you will also act as a coach for new PhD, master and bachelor students.

Furthermore, safety is an important part of your job description. You will need to ensure safe working conditions (i.e. conduct regular electrical inspections), provide first aid in the event of accidents, fight a small, starting fire, or alerting and evacuating employees and all other persons present on the premises in the event of an emergency.

Our current team of technicians consists of 5 fte, which all have more specific dedicated tasks at the individual research groups of both our institutes (CCE and AMIBM). The successful candidate may develop with time into a more senior person who, after a training period, has the competences (including the soft skills) to coordinate the activities of this team and that serves as the so-called “spider-in-the-web”.