Postdoctoral Fellow (PREP0004131)

Johns Hopkins University; Baltimore (MD); On-site; USD 60,000 - 80,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Total rewards package supporting health, life, career and retirement

Job summary

Johns Hopkins University is seeking a PREP Research Associate in Baltimore, Maryland, focused on material flammability testing and modeling. The successful candidate will develop a flammability database and conduct full-scale tests for fire model calibration.

Candidates should hold a PhD in related fields and have at least 2 years of lab experience. This role emphasizes collaboration and communication skills, with a commitment to advancing research in fire modeling.

Qualifications

• 2+ years of relevant lab experience (experimental design and testing).
• Ability to work independently and as part of a team to learn new activities and skills.
• Ability and enthusiasm to help lead early‑career researchers as part of a research team.

Responsibilities

• Developing a material flammability database for quantitative predictions.
• Conduct and analyze data from thermal and fire property tests.
• Produce and present publications on research findings.

Skills

Excellent oral and written communication skills

Excellent time management and organizational skills

Proficiency in programming/data analysis tools (e.g., Excel, MATLAB, Python, R)

Education

PhD in Engineering (fire protection, materials science, mechanical), Chemistry, Physics, or a related field

Job description

PREP Research Associate

This position is part of the National Institute of Standards (NIST) Professional Research Experience (PREP) program. NIST recognizes that its research staff may wish to collaborate with researchers at academic institutions on specific projects of mutual interest, thus requires that such institutions must be the recipient of a PREP award. The PREP program requires staff from a wide range of backgrounds to work on scientific research in many areas. Employees in this position will perform technical work that underpins the scientific research of the collaboration.

Research Title

Material Flammability Testing and Modeling

U.S. Citizen Preferred.

The work will entail: The fire modeling community is working to predict material flammability behavior quantitatively (e.g., ignition, burning rate, fire growth). State‑of‑the‑art fire models require input parameters (material properties) that describe combustible solids' decomposition reaction mechanism (and associated kinetics and thermodynamics) and relevant heat/mass transport properties. To address this need, the NIST Fire Research Division has been developing experimental and analytical tools to calibrate these material properties and validate their ability to predict flammability response across a range of configurations/scales (i.e., mg‑scale thermal decomposition, g‑scale gasification/burning, and flame spread over panels between 0.5 m and 2.5 m tall).

Principal Tasks

• Developing a material flammability database that maintains the tools (experimental and analytical), measurement data (for model calibration and validation), and material property sets necessary to quantitatively predict material flammability behavior (e.g., ignition, steady burning, and fire growth).
• Conduct and analyze the data from bench to full‑scale thermal and fire property tests for fire model calibration and validation.
• Produce and present publications on research findings.

Key Responsibilities

• Assisting in the development, implementation, and leadership of a research plan to quantify fire growth rate, flame structure, condensed‑phase response, and mass loss & heat release rate of combustible solids burning at the intermediate scale (emphasis on materials that deform; e.g., due to melt flow or charring/smoldering).
• Applying and advancing state‑of‑the‑art techniques to quantify the mechanisms controlling material flammability; iterative development and implementation of analytical tools to process these results.
• Development and execution of plans for transferring NIST research through meetings, workshops, and conferences; preparing and presenting measurement results (oral presentations and written reports).

Qualifications

• PhD in Engineering (fire protection, materials science, mechanical), Chemistry, Physics, or a related field.
• 2+ years of relevant lab experience (i.e., experimental design and testing).
• Excellent oral and written communication skills.
• Excellent time management and organizational skills.
• Proficiency in programming/data analysis tools (e.g., Excel, MATLAB, Python, R).
• Ability to work independently and as part of a team to learn new activities and skills.
• Ability and enthusiasm to help lead early‑career researchers as part of a research team.

Salary Range

The referenced salary range represents the minimum and maximum salaries for this position and is based on Johns Hopkins University's good faith belief at the time of posting. Not all candidates will be eligible for the upper end of the salary range. The actual compensation offered to the selected candidate may vary and will ultimately depend on multiple factors, which may include the successful candidate's geographic location, skills, work experience, internal equity, market conditions, education/training and other factors, as reasonably determined by the University.

Total Rewards

Johns Hopkins offers a total rewards package that supports our employees' health, life, career and retirement. More information can be found here: https://hr.jhu.edu/benefits-worklife/.

Equal Opportunity Employer

The Johns Hopkins University is committed to equal opportunity for its faculty, staff, and students. To that end, the university does not discriminate on the basis of sex, gender, marital status, pregnancy, race, color, ethnicity, national origin, age, disability, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, veteran status or other legally protected characteristics. The university is committed to providing qualified individuals access to all academic and employment programs, benefits and activities on the basis of demonstrated ability, performance and merit without regard to personal factors or demographic characteristics that are irrelevant to the program involved.

Pre-Employment Information

If you are interested in applying for employment with Johns Hopkins University and require special assistance or accommodation during any part of the pre‑employment process, please contact the HR Business Services Office at [e-mail]. For TTY users, call via Maryland Relay or dial 711. For more information about workplace accommodations at Johns Hopkins University for disabilities, medical conditions (including medical conditions related to pregnancy or childbirth), accessibility, or religious reasons, please visit accessibility.jhu.edu.

Background Checks

After receiving a conditional offer, the successful candidate(s) for this position will be subject to a pre‑employment background check including education verification. When deciding whether a candidate's conviction history is job‑disqualifying, the University considers the nature and gravity of the offense, the time that has passed since the conviction, and the nature of the job being sought.

EEO is the Law

https://www.eeoc.gov/employees-job-applicants

Vaccine Requirements

Johns Hopkins University strongly encourages, but no longer requires, at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. This change does not apply to the School of Medicine (SOM). SOM hires must be fully vaccinated with an FDA COVID-19 vaccination and provide proof of vaccination status. We still require all faculty, staff, and students to receive the seasonal flu vaccine.

Exceptions to the seasonal flu vaccine or COVID‑19 vaccine (for SOM) requirement(s) may be provided to individuals with sincerely held religious beliefs or medical conditions that preclude them from receiving the vaccine. Requests for an exception must be submitted to the JHU vaccination registry. For additional information, applicants for SOM positions should visit https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/coronavirus/covid-vaccine/ and all other JHU applicants should visit https://covidinfo.jhu.edu/health-safety/covid-vaccination-information/.

The following additional vaccine requirements may apply, depending upon your campus. Please contact the hiring department for more information.

The pre‑employment physical for positions in clinical areas, laboratories, working with research subjects, or involving community contact requires documentation of immune status against Rubella (German measles), Rubeola (Measles), Mumps, Varicella (chickenpox), Hepatitis B and documentation of having received the Tdap (Tetanus, diphtheria, pertussis) vaccination. This may include documentation of having two (2) MMR vaccines; two (2) Varicella vaccines; or antibody status to these diseases from laboratory testing. Blood tests for immunities to these diseases are ordinarily included in the pre‑employment physical exam except for those candidates who provide results of blood tests or immunization documentation from their own health care providers. Any vaccinations required for these diseases will be given at no cost in our Occupational Health office.