Undergraduate Teaching Labs Engineer

at  Colorado State University

DESCRIPTION OF WORK UNIT

As one of the nation’s top public research universities, Colorado State University is a land-grant institution with an enrollment of more than 34,000 students. CSU offers 76 undergraduate degree programs, 114 graduate degree programs, 21 professional master’s degree programs, and a Professional Veterinary Medicine program. CSU’s world-class research and scholarship attract more than $370 million in research funding every year, ranking second nationally in federal research funding for universities without a medical school.
Fort Collins is an attractive community of approximately 170,000 located along the Colorado Front Range at the base of the Rocky Mountains, 65 miles north of Denver. The city is routinely recognized as one of the most desirable places to live in the United States. It consistently ranks high on quality-of-life measures by numerous publications; see https://www.fcgov.com/visitor/awards for the complete list. The Front Range has developed into a high-tech hub with companies such as Woodward, Hewlett-Packard Enterprise, IBM, Intel, Keysight Technologies, Broadcomm, AMD, Xilinx, Ball Aerospace, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, and Northrop Grumman located in or near Fort Collins. The city offers a pleasant climate, excellent schools, and abundant cultural and recreational opportunities nearby. For more information on Fort Collins, check out the City’s website: www.visitftcollins.com.
The Department of Mechanical Engineering (MECH) at Colorado State University (CSU) offers a curriculum that integrates exceptional classroom learning and in-depth engineering practice for an unparalleled educational experience. Made up of 47 faculty members, 14 staff members, 1,100 undergraduate students, and 150 graduate students, MECH is one of the largest departments on CSU’s campus. State-of-the-art labs provide unmatched, hands-on experience to help undergraduate students conceptualize industry environments, and $7.5M in annual research funding provide groundbreaking opportunities focusing on health, materials, and energy, for graduate students to enhance their educational concentrations. Award-winning faculty offer industry and academic perspective and equip each graduate with the tools needed to obtain leading positions in advanced technology fields. The Mechanical Engineering program at CSU includes majors in both Mechanical Engineering and Biomedical Engineering-Mechanical Engineering; both curricula combine classroom learning with engineering practice. Our goal is to give our graduates the engineering skills they need to obtain leading positions in advanced technology fields. Our students are integral members of our research groups, and their thesis and dissertation topics focus on cutting-edge research. Further information about the Department can be found at www.engr.colostate.edu/me/.
Diversity and inclusion are paramount values for the Department of Mechanical Engineering. The department is committed to fostering an inclusive, equitable, and diverse community, integrating these principles into both education and research. Faculty members actively contribute to this mission, emphasizing diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice (DEIJ) in the curriculum and broader scientific community.

POSITION SUMMARY

The Department of Mechanical Engineering at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, Colorado is seeking a lab support engineer to provide long-term consistent, professional support of its instructional laboratories (materials/experimentation, thermo/fluids, dynamics and vibrations, and mechatronics). The individual will be working with faculty/staff members and graduate/undergraduate students at the university in support of instructional laboratories and will be responsible for the day-to-day operations and maintenance of the equipment in the undergraduate laboratories; this includes but is not limited to: trouble shooting, installing, repairing, and reconfiguring lab equipment, data acquisitions systems and software packages. The selected individual will also develop written laboratory procedures, implement new apparatus and control software, supervise and observe undergraduate students, and ensure undergraduate labs are operated in a safe manner.

REQUIRED JOB QUALIFICATIONS

• B.S. degree in Engineering, Construction Management, Industrial Technology, or a closely related field by the proposed start date;
• Ability to physically and independently move 50 lbs lab equipment, tools, and materials with the aid of a dolley;
• Experience with an instrumentation-related laboratory (e.g. metrology, structures, materials, robotics);
• Demonstrated ability to collaborate with various groups of people, including students, faculty, staff and others within and external to the University;
• Proficiency with Windows OS, MS Office (specifically Excel), and demonstrated knowledge / experience with engineering applications such as MATLAB, LabVIEW, and Solidworks;
• Demonstrated manufacturing skills, including the use of hand tools, manual lathe/mill, CNC, and 3D printers;
• Experience training and managing undergraduate students, within and outside of engineering disciplines;
• Academic knowledge and hands-on experience with materials engineering, electromechanical systems, mechanism synthesis, and applied thermodynamic systems;
• Excellent written communication skills;
• The successful candidate must be legally authorized to work in the US by the proposed start date; the department will not sponsor a visa for this position.
• Must have a valid driver’s license or the ability to obtain a driver’s license or access to a licensed driver by the proposed start date.

PREFERRED JOB QUALIFICATIONS

• Three years relevant industry or academic experience in an experimental laboratory;
• Experience with instrumentation, data loggers, sensors (acquisition, installation, application, calibration, recording), and controls;
• Demonstrated capacity to manage multiple projects and priorities;
• Proficiency with a wide variety of Windows-based computers at the hardware level (i.e., memory, hard drives, optical and other storage devices, wired and wireless networking), system backups, and computer cloning;
• Experience with outreach and mentoring students from underrepresented groups in STEM;
• Self-motivated and able to work independently with minimal supervision; and
• Excellent verbal communication and presentation skills.

Please refer the Job description for details