Postdoctoral Scholar: Thermodynamic Computing & ML on GPUs

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory; Berkeley (CA); On-site; USD 99,000 - 111,000; Full time

Job summary

The Molecular Foundry at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory is seeking a Postdoctoral Scholar - Thermodynamic Computing to scale thermodynamic computing through large-scale simulations at NERSC. You will explore physics of thermodynamic computers and design systems capable of ML tasks, collaborating with Foundry and NERSC staff.

The role involves developing nonlinear thermodynamic computers, benchmarking against digital neural networks, and publishing results in peer-reviewed journals while

Qualifications

• PhD in physics, computer science, applied mathematics, or a related field.
• Experience developing numerical simulations of physical systems or training machine-learning models.
• Proficiency in a scientific programming language (Python, C++, Julia, or Fortran).
• Ability to pursue research questions independently.
• Strong written and verbal communication with publications or presentations.
• Experience with GPU computing and large-scale HPC resources.
• Knowledge of statistical mechanics, stochastic processes, or nonequilibrium physics.
• Experience with PyTorch or JAX.

Responsibilities

• Design and run large-scale simulations of nonlinear, nonequilibrium thermodynamic computers on GPUs at NERSC, using hybrid evolutionary and gradient-based training methods.
• Benchmark the accuracy, speed, and energy cost of thermodynamic computers against digital neural networks on standard machine-learning tasks.
• Determine how design choices control inference accuracy and energy dissipation.
• Write and maintain documented, reproducible simulation code.
• Publish results in peer-reviewed journals and present at conferences and internal meetings.

Skills

Numerical simulations

Python

C++

Julia

Fortran

GPU computing

HPC resources

Independent research

Communication

Education

PhD in physics, computer science, applied mathematics, or a related field

Tools

Python

C++

Julia

Fortran

Job description

The Molecular Foundry at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory is seeking a Postdoctoral Scholar - Thermodynamic Computing to scale thermodynamic computing through large-scale simulations at NERSC. You will explore physics of thermodynamic computers and design systems capable of ML tasks, collaborating with Foundry and NERSC staff.

The role involves developing nonlinear thermodynamic computers, benchmarking against digital neural networks, and publishing results in peer-reviewed journals while