DESCRIPTION

The Postdoctoral Research Scholar will be taking a role in sustainable energy and food projects involving redox metal oxide thermochemical water and carbon dioxide splitting (solar and e-fuels), thermochemical energy storage, chemical looping, chemical production, and biochemical fermentation, and encompassing activities such as detailed engineering modeling and analysis of unit operations including chemical reaction, heat and mass transfer, and separations; thermodynamic analyses of chemical systems; techno-economic and scenario analyses; reactor and system design, construction, and characterization of novel thermochemical systems; and redox active materials development including synthesis, characterization, and evaluation of chemically reactive behavior and biomass.
This is a benefits-eligible, full-time, 12-month position, with no tenure implications. The anticipated start date is April 2025.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS:

• Applicants must have a recent Ph.D. (within the past four years) in chemical, materials, or mechanical engineering or a closely related discipline.

DESIRED QUALIFICATIONS:

• Practical experience in at least one of the following, solar thermochemistry and concentrating solar power technology, construction and operation of high temperature systems including heterogeneous reactor systems, fermentation and bioreactors, systems modeling and engineering, and computational fluid dynamics, or thermodynamics, is highly desired;
• Familiarity with and competence in the design, assembly, and operation of laboratory reactor systems, and the synthesis of metal oxides and/or metal nitrides and with standard materials characterization techniques including thermogravimetric analysis, gas chemisorption, surface area analysis, gas chromatography, mass spectrometry, and x-ray diffraction, and nutrient composition analysis;
• Experience with the development and/or optimization of new redox active materials or processes will also be considered an asset;
• Demonstrated motivation and aptitude for learning and taking on new challenges, collaboration, and clearly and carefully documenting results in the scientific literature is desired;
• Excellent oral and written communication skills;
• Ability to work effectively in a team environment, and effectively balance parallel work on several different projects.

• Experimental or analytical design and implementation, data analysis, report/manuscript preparation, and mentorship of graduate and undergraduate students.
• Assisting in writing research proposals and seeking future funding.
• Coordinating among team members, which will be essential for achieving project milestones.