Advanced Controls Postdoctoral Researcher

Search Jobs - INL Professional Careers; Idaho Falls (ID); On-site; USD 95,000 - 116,000; Full time

Job summary

Idaho National Laboratory seeks a Postdoctoral Research Associate in Nuclear Engineering to develop prognostic informed advanced control for next-generation reactors. You will design ML models, implement real-time HITL testing, and contribute to AI-enabled control platforms in a collaborative environment.

You will publish research findings, present to lab leadership, and work with national labs and universities to advance SMR and modular reactor concepts.

Qualifications

• PhD in Nuclear Engineering, Mechanical/Electrical/Computer Engineering, Computer Sciences or Applied Mathematics with energy focus.
• PhD must be completed by appointment start and within last 5 years.
• Familiarity with advanced reactor concepts including SMRs/microreactors.
• Expertise in advanced control strategies for dynamic systems.
• Experience integrating AI interfaces or LLMs into scientific decision-support tools.
• Experience with transfer learning across environments/datasets.

Responsibilities

• Develop prognostic agents, ML models, and HITL testing for reactor controls.
• Publish results in high-impact journals and present at conferences.
• Collaborate across labs and universities to integrate AI-enabled control systems.

Skills

Machine learning frameworks

Reinforcement learning

Control theory

Model predictive control

HITL testing

Git version control

Python programming

Education

PhD in Nuclear Engineering or related field

Tools

TensorFlow

PyTorch

Keras

Scikit-learn

Job description

The Idaho National Laboratory is hiring a well-qualified Postdoctoral Research Associate in Nuclear Engineering or comparable discipline for the Instrumentation and Controls Department. This postdoctoral researcher will focus on research, development, and demonstration of prognostic informed advanced control algorithms for advanced reactor technologies. Our team works a 9x80 schedule located out of Idaho Falls with every other Friday off.

The position is funded by the United States Department of Energy’s Office of Technology Commercialization and Genesis Mission PROMETHEUS project. The selected candidate is expected to work in a collaborative environment. The candidate will work with diverse set of researchers at Idaho National Laboratory, Argonne National Laboratory, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and Sandia National Laboratory. The candidate will also periodically interact with advanced reactor stakeholders and university that are part of the project.

This postdoctoral position will support the research, development, and demonstration of prognostic informed advanced control for nuclear energy systems. The selected candidate responsibilities will span developing prognostic agents, machine learning model, hardware-in-the-loop testing, user interface design, and integration of the developed prognostic informed advanced controls into artificial intelligence platform developed under the PROMETHEUS research scope by other project team members. The candidate will be responsible for leading publication of research outcomes in high impact journals, peer-reviewed conferences, demonstration, and presentation to lab leadership.

The candidate is expected to be a strong asset to our interdisciplinary R&D team and work effectively both alone and as a team member. The candidate must be self-motivated but also take direction from other team members and peers.

The position entails writing scientific manuscripts for journal publication, and presentation of research results at national and international conferences and meetings.

Required:

• PhD in Nuclear Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical or Computer Engineering, Computer Sciences or Applied Mathematics (with an energy systems focus) or comparable disciplines.
• PhD requirements must be completed by commencement of appointment and within the previous 5 years.
• Familiarity with advanced reactor concepts including small modular reactors (SMRs) and microreactors.
• Expertise in advanced control strategies for dynamic systems.
• Experience integrating large language models (LLMs) or conversational AI interfaces into scientific or engineering decision-support tools.
• Experience with transfer learning techniques to adapt and generalize ML models across different operational environments or datasets.
• Experience with real-time control system deployment, integration, and hardware-in-the-loop (HITL) testing in representative experimental environments.
• Familiarity with automation level frameworks and human-automation interaction standards for complex engineered systems.
• Proficiency in machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) frameworks (e.g., TensorFlow, PyTorch, Keras, Scikit-learn) for developing data-driven models in engineering applications.
• Experience in the development and integration AI agent systems.
• Experience with diagnostic and prognostic model development.
• Experience working in a collaborative coding environment including version control and basic git commands.
• Experience in control theory, model predictive control, adaptive control and reinforcement learning control.
• Demonstrated ability to work with heterogeneous data types, including vibration signals, time-series sensor data, imagery, and tabular records.
• Foundational knowledge of nuclear reactor physics, thermal-hydraulics, and plant instrumentation and control (I&C) systems.
• Demonstrated oral and published written communication skills in English.

Physical Requirements:

While performing the duties of this classification, the employee is frequently required to stand, walk, sit, stoop, kneel, bend, and work in an office and field/laboratory environment. The job requires hand/finger dexterity to keyboard or type, handle materials, manipulate tools, and reach with hands and arms. The job requires operation of job-related equipment and driving a vehicle. The employee must occasionally lift and/or move up to 35 pounds without assistance. Sufficient visual acuity and hearing capacity to perform the essential functions and interact with the public is required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

Job Information:

• The pay for this position is $105,144.00 Annually. At Idaho National Laboratory compensation decisions are determined using factors such as education, relevant experience, and other credentials.