Physical AI Research Scientist (On-Campus)

Johns Hopkins University; Baltimore (MD); On-site; USD 70,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

Johns Hopkins University is seeking a PREP Research Associate to support the Physical AI research initiative under the NIST PREP program. The role involves developing AI/ML applications, simulating physics-based environments, and generating high-quality data for training robust Physical AI systems.

Ideal candidates hold a Master’s or PhD (or are in final year) in CS/Engineering, with strong Python/C++ skills and experience in ML frameworks, simulation tools, and ROS 2 on Linux.

Qualifications

• US citizenship preferred.
• Engineering/CS majors with Master or PhD, or final-year student.

Responsibilities

• Develop Physical AI applications using ML and RL.
• Research foundational model training for VLMs and VLA architectures.
• Generate synthetic data in IsaacSim/GR00T/Cosmos to test systems.
• Prepare reports and weekly progress presentations.
• On-campus work in Gaithersburg, MD, full-time (40 hrs/week).

Skills

Python

C++

TensorFlow

PyTorch

Git

Linux

ROS 2

CAD

Education

Master's degree

Ph.D

final year of degree

Tools

NVIDIA IsaacSim

GR00T

Cosmos

Gazebo

MuJoCo

Drake

Job description

Johns Hopkins University is seeking a PREP Research Associate to support the Physical AI research initiative under the NIST PREP program. The role involves developing AI/ML applications, simulating physics-based environments, and generating high-quality data for training robust Physical AI systems.

Ideal candidates hold a Master’s or PhD (or are in final year) in CS/Engineering, with strong Python/C++ skills and experience in ML frameworks, simulation tools, and ROS 2 on Linux.