Postdoctoral Research Associate - Nonproliferation Data Scientist

at  Oak Ridge National Laboratory

OVERVIEW:

Join Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), a U.S. Department of Energy national laboratory with a rich 80-year history of solving the nation’s most pressing problems. As a leader in scientific discovery and innovation, ORNL’s mission is to accelerate scientific breakthroughs and their translation into energy, environment, and security solutions for the nation. Our organization is committed to fostering a diverse and inclusive environment, recognizing that diversity in ideas and people is critical to achieving our goals.
We are seeking a Postdoctoral Researcher to join the Data Science and Engineering for Nonproliferation group, where the selected candidate will focus on developing novel, physics-informed data-driven methodologies and applying groung-breaking machine learning (ML) techniques to support nuclear nonproliferation mission applications. The candidate will be part of a dynamic team within the National Security Sciences Directorate, working alongside experts in data science, statistics, nuclear engineering, and scientific computing to deliver high-impact research and solutions that address some of our nation’s most challenging security threats.

BASIC QUALIFICATIONS:

• PhD in nuclear engineering, applied mathematics, physics, or related field with an evidence of understanding nuclear nonproliferation and/or the nuclear fuel cycle.
• Experience applying machine learning techniques to problems in nuclear data or nuclear nonproliferation.
• Experience presenting scientific results to technical communities as well as at professional society conferences and workshops.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS:

• Knowledge of practices and technologies associated with one or more nuclear nonproliferation mission areas to include facility monitoring, international safeguards, arms control, or similar.
• Knowledge of nuclear nonproliferation, counterproliferation, or intelligence as it pertains to nuclear fuel cycle.
• Demonstrated experience in Python, MATLAB, R, or similar.
• Demonstrated experience with the latest data-driven approaches to include statistical approaches for scientific data analysis and/or the latest machine learning approaches, including deep learning models.
• Experience working with DOE National Laboratories (or similar R&D organizations).

SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS:

Applicants cannot have received their Ph.D. more than five years prior to the date of application and must complete all degree requirements before starting their appointment. The appointment length will be up to 24 months with the potential for extension. Initial appointments and extensions are subject to performance and availability of funding.
Please submit three letters of reference when applying to this position. You may upload these directly to your application or have them sent to postdocrecruitment@ornl.gov with the position title and number referenced in the subject line.

Instructions to upload documents to your candidate profile:

• Login to your account via jobs.ornl.gov
• View Profile
• Under the My Documents section, select Add a Document

Visa sponsorship is not available for this position.

• Collaborate with other researchers (mentors) to develop and apply new data driven approaches for nuclear material detection, nuclear material characterization, and fuel cycle evaluation.
• Deliver R&D on an ongoing basis as evidenced by S&T presentations, professional community engagement, inventions/patents/copyrights, publications as appropriate, etc.
• Exercise scientific integrity in performing and communicating research.
• Ensure all work is carried out safely, securely, and in compliance with ORNL policies, standards, and procedures.
• Exemplify a dedication to excellence in research, operations, and community engagement, and work cooperatively to leverage scientific capabilities across ORNL.
• Perform work activities in nuclear and/or radiological facilities/environments.
• Ability to engage in domestic and international travel as required.
• All team members deliver ORNL’s mission by aligning behaviors, priorities, and interactions with our core values of Impact, Integrity, Teamwork, Safety, and Service. Promote diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility by fostering a respectful workplace – in how we treat one another, work together, and measure success.