General Description

Salary: $80,000-$85,000 a year

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:

Exoskeleton, Legged and Humanoid Robots, and Human-Robot Interaction Research

The work will entail: 

To support the National Institute of Standards and Technology's effort to develop standard test methods for exoskeletons, legged robots, and human-robot interaction standards.

Key responsibilities will include but are not limited to:

• Conducting state-of-the-art measurement science research in robotics for manufacturing and other applications.
• Programming of physical and simulated robots using a variety of software.
• Use machine learning and other AI techniques to enhance robot capabilities, particularly in the realm of HRI.
• Helping develop standards for autonomous robots, wearable robots, and augmentative robots that seamlessly integrate into human environments.
• Implementing state-of-the-art whole-body-controllers and control techniques for humanoid robots and powered exoskeletons.
• Collaborating with interdisciplinary teams to design, simulate, and optimize robotic systems using advanced software tools.
• Publishing results in peer-reviewed journals and/or at conferences. 
• Develop test apparatuses, performance metrics, and data collection tools for evaluating robot capabilities.
• Validate the repeatability and reproducibility of the tests for various classes of robotic systems.

Qualifications

-         Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering or closely related field.

-         Experience in: Robotics and automation, system dynamics, linear and non-linear control systems, adaptive control, optimal control, whole-body control, human-robot interaction, powered and passive exoskeletons, legged robots, machine learning, AI applications, reinforcement learning, control tuning and implementation, and motion planning.

-         Proficiency in programming languages such as Java, Matlab, Python, C/C++

-         Proficiency in ROS, Latex, and 3D CAD

Application Instructions

Please upload the following with your application:

-         CV/Resume

-         2 professional references

*Please limit C.V to 3 pages only and ONLY include a valid email address for your contact info. Please DO NOT include telephone numbers, home address or photos on your resume.

Privacy Act Statement

Authority:  15 U.S.C. § 278g-1(e)(1) and (e)(3) and 15 U.S.C. § 272(b) and (c)

Purpose:  The National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST) hosts the  Professional Research Experience Program (PREP) which is designed to provide valuable laboratory experience and financial assistance to undergraduates, post-bachelor's degree holders, graduate students, master's degree holders, postdocs, and faculty.  

PREP is a 5-year cooperative agreement between NIST laboratories and participating PREP Universities to establish a collaborative research relationship between NIST and U.S. institutions of higher education in the following disciplines including (but may not be limited to) biochemistry, biological sciences, chemistry, computer science, engineering, electronics, materials science, mathematics, nanoscale science, neutron science, physical science, physics, and statistics. This collection of information is needed to facilitate administrative functions of the PREP Program.

Routine Uses:  NIST will use the information collected to perform the requisite reviews of the applications to determine eligibility, and to meet programmatic requirements. Disclosure of this information is also subject to all the published routine uses as identified in the Privacy Act System of Records Notices:  NIST-1: NIST Associates. 

Disclosure:  Furnishing this information is voluntary. When you submit the form, you are indicating your voluntary consent for NIST to use of the information you submit for the purpose stated.

About Johns Hopkins University

The Johns Hopkins University (JHU) was founded in 1876 as the nation's first research university, dedicated to bringing the benefits of discovery to the world. JHU is the largest private employer in Baltimore and Maryland, making a large economic impact in the city and state. We enroll more than 30,000 full- and part-time students across ten academic divisions, offering in-person and remote learning in over 400 programs. Not only are we located in Baltimore, but we also have a presence in Washington, D.C.

Connections working at Johns Hopkins University