Postdoc - Computational Materials for Rapid Image Analysis

Organization Overview :

The Center for Functional Nanomaterials (CFN) at Brookhaven is a DOE-funded national scientific user facility, offering users a supported research experience with top-caliber scientists and access to state-of-the art instrumentation. The CFN mission is advancing nanoscience through frontier fundamental research and technique development and is the nexus of a broad collaboration network. Each year, CFN staff members support the research of nearly 600 external facility users.

Three strategic nanoscience themes underlie the CFN scientific facilities: The CFN conducts research on nanomaterial synthesis by assembly designing precise architectures with targeted functionality by organizing nanoscale components. The CFN researches and applies platforms for state-of-the-art techniques for Accelerated Nanomaterial Discovery, integrating synthesis, advanced characterization, physical modeling, and computer science to iteratively explore a wide range of material parameters. The CFN develops and utilizes advanced capabilities for studies of Nanomaterials in Operando Conditions for characterizing materials and reactions at the atomic scale in real-world environments.

Position Description:

The CFN is seeking an exceptional Postdoctoral Research Associate to conduct research in the field of computational material science. As part of this research, you will contribute to a multidisciplinary project involving three DOE national labs and multiple universities to rapidly distill useful information from large image data sets from transmission electron microscopy (TEM). In this position, you will be a member of the Electron Microscopy group and closely collaborate with the Computational group. You will learn and develop advanced machine-learning algorithms for TEM image analysis with guidance from computational materials scientists.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

• You will conduct computational simulations to complement TEM experiments.
• You will leverage machine learning algorithms to interpret the big data streams from the ultra-fast direct electron detector installed on the environmental TEM.
• You will develop software(s) to track structural evolutions and to identify key transformations of materials at the nanoscale and below.
• You will closely collaborate with a multidisciplinary team that includes microscopists in nanomaterials.
• You will disseminate your results through publications and conference presentations.

Required Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:

• You have earned a Ph.D. in a relevant discipline (Materials Science, Chemistry, Physics, or a related engineering discipline) within the past five years or will have completed all PhD requirements by the commencement of employment.
• You have experience with ab initio or molecular dynamics simulations.
• You have experience in developing research tools using programming languages such as Python. 
• Your experience is demonstrated through publications.
• You are committed to fostering an environment of safe scientific work practices.

Preferred Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:

• Experience in image simulation and analysis.
• Experience in parallel computing, GPU computing, and computer clusters.
• You are motivated to learn computer vision and other machine-learning techniques.
• You work and communicate effectively in a collaborative team to tackle challenging scientific problems, particularly interdisciplinary problems.

Other Information:

• This position is required to work on-site.
• This is a 2-year Postdoc Assignment.
• BNL policy requires that after obtaining a PhD, eligible candidates for research associate appointments may not exceed a combined total of 5 years of relevant work experience as a postdoc and/or in an R&D position, excluding time associated with family planning, military service, illness, or other life-changing events.

Brookhaven Laboratory is committed to providing fair, equitable and competitive compensation. The full salary range for this position is $70200- $116200/year. Salary offers will be commensurate with the final candidate’s qualification, education and experience and considered with the internal peer group.

Brookhaven employees are subject to restrictions related to participation in Foreign Government Talent Recruitment Programs, as defined and detailed in United States Department of Energy Order 486.1A. You will be asked to disclose any such participation at the time of hire for review by Brookhaven. The full text of the Order may be found at: https://www.directives.doe.gov/directives-documents/400-series/0486.1-BOrder-a/@@images/file