Postdoctoral Researcher in Scientific Machine Learning and Cross-scale Predictive Modeling

NLR; Golden (CO); On-site; USD 77,000 - 126,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

medical, dental, and vision insurance

short-term disability insurance

pension benefits

403(b) Employee Savings Plan with EMR

life and accidental death and disember

personal time off (PTO) and sick leave

paid holidays

Job summary

The National Laboratory of the Rockies (NLR) in Golden, Colorado seeks a Postdoctoral Researcher in Scientific Machine Learning and Cross-scale Predictive Modeling to pursue a cross-disciplinary project funded by DOE. You will develop methods that fuse evidence across lab-scale to pilot-scale data, enabling predictions at unseen scales where data are sparse or noisy.

The role emphasizes multi-modal learning, transfer learning, and physics-informed or hybrid modeling, with collaboration across

Qualifications

• Must be a recent PhD graduate within the last three years.
• Demonstrated experience developing ML models for scientific or engineering systems.
• Experience in learning from one set of conditions or domains and predicting in another, including when distributions differ.
• Demonstrated experience in combining data with different modalities, sampling rates, resolutions, fidelities, measurement characteristics, costs, accuracies, or experimental conditions.
• Demonstrated experience in physics-informed and hybrid modeling, showing the ability to incorporate mechanistic models, physical constraints, or known relationships when useful.
• Excellent communication skills.
• Demonstrated experience working in multi-disciplinary teams and collaborative software development.
• Demonstrated experience with python and version control.

Responsibilities

• Develop cross-scale learning methods across heterogeneous data.

Tools

Python

Version control

Job description

Postdoctoral Researcher in Scientific Machine Learning and Cross-scale Predictive Modeling. Location CO - Golden. Position Type Postdoc (Fixed Term). Hours Per Week 40. Working at NLR NLR is located at the foothills of the Rocky Mountains in Golden, Colorado is the nation's primary laboratory for energy systems research and development. Join the National Laboratory of the Rockies (NLR), where world-class scientists, engineers, and experts are accelerating energy innovation through breakthrough research and systems integration. From our mission to our collaborative culture, NLR stands out in the research community for its commitment to an affordable and secure energy future. Spanning foundational science to applied systems engineering and analysis, we focus on solving complex challenges to deliver advanced, secure, reliable, and cost-effective energy solutions. Our work helps strengthen U.S. industries, support job creation, and promote national economic growth. At NLR, you'll find a mission-driven environment supported by state-of-the-art facilities, multidisciplinary research teams, and strong collaborations with industry, academia, and other national laboratories. We offer robust professional development opportunities, and a competitive benefits package designed to support your career and well-being.

Job Description

The Artificial Learning and Intelligent Systems group in NLR’s Computational Science Center has an immediate opening for a Postdoctoral Researcher to pursue a cross-disciplinary research project in cross-scale learning from heterogeneous evidence (lab-scale to pilot-scale) relevant to the DOE Office of Critical Minerals and Energy Innovation. The successful applicant will develop methods that combine evidence across different experimental scales, conditions, and modalities to make predictions at unseen physical or operational scales where data may be sparse or unavailable. In this context, the relationships between inputs and outputs may change with scale, and the available data may come from different data sources with different modalities and amounts and have different physical contexts. We are looking for someone who has developed innovative learning methods, including multi-modal and surrogate modeling approaches, transfer learning techniques, physics-informed ML, and/or statistical learning methods.

Basic Qualifications

• Must be a recent PhD graduate within the last three years.
• Must meet educational requirements prior to employment start date.

Additional Required Qualifications

Demonstrated experience developing ML models for scientific or engineering systems.

Demonstrated experience in learning from one set of conditions or domains and predicting in another, including situations where the source and target distributions differ.

Demonstrated experience in combining data with different modalities, sampling rates, resolutions, fidelities, measurement characteristics, costs, accuracies, or experimental conditions.

Demonstrated experience in physics-informed and hybrid modeling, showing the ability to incorporate mechanistic models, physical constraints, or known relationships when useful, without assuming that complete physics models are available.

Demonstrated experience in model representation and adaptation, how to represent changes in system context, operating conditions, geometry, or scale so that the model can distinguish what is transferable from what is not.

Excellent communication skills.

Demonstrated experience working in multi-disciplinary teams and collaborative software development.

Demonstrated experience with python and version control.

Job Application Submission Window

The anticipated closing window for application submission is up to 30 days and may be extended as needed.

Annual Salary Range

Job Profile: Postdoctoral Researcher / Annual Salary Range: $76,600 - $126,400 NLR takes into consideration a candidate’s education, training, and experience, expected quality and quantity of work, required travel (if any), external market and internal value, including seniority and merit systems, and internal pay alignment when determining the salary level for potential new employees. In compliance with the Colorado Equal Pay for Equal Work Act, a potential new employee’s salary history will not be used in compensation decisions.

Benefits Summary

• medical, dental, and vision insurance
• short-term disability insurance*
• pension benefits*
• 403(b) Employee Savings Plan with employer match*
• life and accidental death and dismemberment (AD&D) insurance
• personal time off (PTO) and sick leave
• paid holidays

Badging Requirement

NLR is subject to Department of Energy (DOE) access restrictions. All employees must also be able to obtain and maintain a federal Personal Identity Verification (PIV) card as required by Homeland Security Presidential Directive 12 (HSPD-12), which includes a favorable background investigation.

Drug Free Workplace

NLR is committed to maintaining a drug-free workplace in accordance with the federal Drug-Free Workplace Act and complies with federal laws prohibiting the possession and use of illegal drugs. Under federal law, marijuana remains an illegal drug. If you are offered employment at NLR, you must pass a pre-employment drug test prior to commencing employment. Unless prohibited by state or local law, the pre-employment drug test will include marijuana. If you test positive on the pre-employment drug test, your offer of employment may be withdrawn.

Equal Opportunity Employer

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard basis of age (40 and over), color, disability, gender identity, genetic information, marital status, domestic partner status, military or veteran status, national origin/ancestry, race, religion, creed, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding), sexual orientation, and any other applicable status protected by federal, state, or local laws.

Reasonable Accommodations

E-Verify www.dhs.gov/E-Verify For information about right to work, click here for English or here for Spanish. E-Verify is a registered trademark of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. This business uses E-Verify in its hiring practices to achieve a lawful workforce.

About NLR

The National Laboratory of the Rockies (NLR) is the U.S. Department of Energy's primary national laboratory for critical minerals, energy innovation, and energy security. With locations in Golden and Boulder, Colorado, Fairbanks, Alaska, and a satellite office in Washington, D.C., NLR bridges foundational research with practical applications to develop and bring to scale new energy materials and technologies that lower energy costs, drive economic growth, and deliver abundant and reliable energy.

DOE Access Requirements

NLR is subject to Department of Energy (DOE) access restrictions. All candidates must be authorized to access the facility per DOE rules and guidance within a reasonable time frame for the specified position in order to be considered for an interview and for hiring. DOE rules for site access during the interview process depend on whether the candidate is interviewed on-site, off-site, or via telephone or videoconference. All employees must also be able to obtain and maintain a federal Personal Identity Verification (PIV) card as required by Homeland Security Presidential Directive 12 (HSPD-12), which includes a favorable background investigation. Additionally, DOE contractor employees are prohibited from participating in certain Foreign Government Talent Recruitment Programs (FGTRPs). If a candidate is currently participating in an FGTRP, they will be required to disclose their participation after receiving an offer of employment and may be required to disengage from participation in the FGTRP prior to commencing employment. Any offer of employment is conditional on the ability to obtain work authorization and to be granted access to NLR by the Department of Energy (DOE).