Remote Research Associate: Synchrotron X-ray Data Analysis

Johns Hopkins University; Gaithersburg (MD); On-site; USD 35,000 - 40,000; Full time

Job summary

Johns Hopkins University invites applications for a PREP Research Associate to support LPDT synchrotron experiments at NIST and analyze data. The role involves planning, execution, data processing, and maintaining reproducible workflows, with some remote work and occasional travel to Gaithersburg, MD and facilities like APS/CHESS.

The successful candidate will collaborate with NIST researchers, prepare beamtime, organize datasets, and contribute to reports and publications.

Qualifications

• PhD degree, or current enrollment in a PhD program, focused on additive manufacturing or a closely related field. An undergraduate degree in materials science and engineering, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, or a related discipline is preferred.
• Demonstrated hands-on experience conducting in-situ synchrotron X-ray diffraction and/or imaging experiments.
• Experience with beamtime preparation, experimental setup and alignment, data acquisition, and post-experiment data reduction.
• Experience at high-energy synchrotron facilities such as APS and/or CHESS is strongly preferred.
• Familiarity with laser-material interactions, laser powder bed fusion, or related laser processing.
• Proficiency in Python for scientific data analysis and visualization; experience with MATLAB, Origin, or similar tools is desirable.
• Ability to work independently in a remote environment while collaborating effectively with a multidisciplinary team.
• Strong oral and written communication skills and the ability to travel occasionally for on-site experiments.

Responsibilities

• Support experiment design, beamtime planning, hardware and testbed preparation, setup, alignment, execution, and documentation for LPDT and related synchrotron experiments.
• Process and analyze in-situ synchrotron X-ray diffraction and imaging data from laser materials processing experiments.
• Correlate X-ray measurements with laser scan conditions and synchronized visible, thermal, and other process-monitoring data.
• Develop and document reproducible Python or MATLAB workflows for data preprocessing, calibration, quality control, visualization, and quantitative analysis.
• Organize large datasets and metadata, compare results across experiments, and prepare figures, summaries, and publication-quality results.
• Assist with mechanical, optical, sample-fixture, and testbed preparation needed for synchrotron and NIST experiments.
• Present results at internal meetings and coordinate effectively with NIST researchers and external synchrotron-facility collaborators.

Skills

Communication skills

Travel willingness

Independent work

Education

PhD candidate

Undergraduate degree in MSE/EE/ME

Tools

Python

MATLAB

Origin

Job description

Johns Hopkins University invites applications for a PREP Research Associate to support LPDT synchrotron experiments at NIST and analyze data. The role involves planning, execution, data processing, and maintaining reproducible workflows, with some remote work and occasional travel to Gaithersburg, MD and facilities like APS/CHESS.

The successful candidate will collaborate with NIST researchers, prepare beamtime, organize datasets, and contribute to reports and publications.