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Postdoctoral Associate

Requisition Number:

64594

Location:

Boulder, Colorado

City

Boulder

State

Colorado

Employment Type:

Research Faculty

Schedule:

Full-Time

Posting Close Date:

12-Jun-2025

Date Posted:

02-Jun-2025
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Job Summary

The Digital Traceability aims to develop software for data provenance and uncertainty analysis, which will serve as a proof-of-concept for a new system for NIST and other NMIs to deliver trustworthy data that are traceable to primary standards, along with detailed metadata that will help end users to correctly interpret and reuse the data in other contexts.  This software will entail:

  • Schema to organize measured data, provenance, uncertainties, and correlations.
  • Libraries to read/write these data and propagate uncertainties.
  • A searchable data repository for traceable data.
  • To ensure that these software systems are relevant to real-world metrology, the Digital Traceability is exploring two case studies: an axial resolution standard for optical imaging and radiofrequency (RF) power metrology.  The research will focus on quantifying the uncertainties of these measurements, and clearly describing their traceability to the fundamental measurements that define the SI units.

This position is part of the National Institute of Standards and Technology's (NIST) Professional Research Experience Program (PREP).  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.
CU is an Equal Opportunity Employer and complies with all applicable federal, state, and local laws governing nondiscrimination in employment. We are committed to creating a workplace where all individuals are treated with respect and dignity, and we encourage individuals from all backgrounds to apply, including protected veterans and individuals with disabilities.

Who We Are

PREP is a special partnership between the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the University of Colorado Boulder.  PREP provides research opportunities to CU undergraduate and graduate students, as well as researchers with a Bachelor's, Master's, or PhD in NIST labs to gain research experience alongside NIST scientists.
 
The particular group that needs a researcher is the Guided Wave Electromagnetics Group under the RF Technology Division at NIST.

What Your Key Responsibilities Will Be

  • Depending on circumstances including the applicant’s interests and abilities, they will perform research on either optical imaging standards, or radiofrequency power metrology.  Specifically, the applicant will produce high-quality, well-documented datasets that demonstrate rigorous traceability and uncertainty analysis.
  • The applicant will work with software developers, statisticians, and metrologists to develop data formats and uncertainty analysis algorithms that can support these complex applications, but general enough that they could be applied to other kinds of measurements.

What You Should Know

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 of 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.

What We Can Offer

  • The salary range for this full-time position is $71,000 - $100,000 annually.
  • Onboarding/relocation assistance may be available, however, if within a 12-month period you exercise your right to willfully terminate your employment with the University of Colorado, you hereby agree to reimburse the department for your relocation expense.

Benefits

The University of Colorado offers excellent benefits, including medical, dental, retirement, paid time off, tuition benefit and ECO Pass. The University of Colorado Boulder is one of the largest employers in Boulder County and offers an inspiring higher education environment. Learn more about the University of Colorado Boulder.

Be Statements

Be ambitious. Be pioneering. Be Boulder.

What We Require

  • PhD degree in electrical engineering, physics, optics, or a related field.

What We Would Like You to Have

  • Practical research experience related to electromagnetic wave propagation, demonstrated though peer-reviewed academic publications in related topics.  Ideally, the candidate will have hands-on experience with measurements and will also be comfortable with the theory supporting these measurements.
  • Enough familiarity multivariate calculus, linear algebra, and statistics to communicate fluently about concepts from these subjects in the context of analyzing experimental data.
  • Experience implementing novel algorithms for data analysis or modelling in software (as opposed to using software developed by someone else in a situation that it was specifically designed for).

Special Instructions

To apply, please submit the following materials:
  1. Resume/CV
  2. Cover Letter
(Optional) Transcripts/Proof of Degree: If you are selected as the finalist, your degree will be verified by the CU Boulder Campus Human Resources Department using an approved online vendor.  However, if your degree was obtained outside of the United States, please submit an English-translated version as an Optional document.
 
During the application process, you will need to enter contact information for a reference.  We will request the letter of recommendation immediately following your application.
 
Review of applications will begin immediately and will continue until June 12, 2025.
 
Note: Application materials will not be accepted via email.  For consideration, applications must be submitted through CU Boulder Jobs.

In compliance with the Colorado Job Application Fairness Act, in any materials you submit, you may redact or remove age-identifying information such as age, date of birth, or dates of school attendance or graduation. You will not be penalized for redacting or removing this information.

Posting Contact Information

Posting Contact Name: Lisa Valencia

Posting Contact Email: recruitprep@colorado.edu