Jobs UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO BOULDER

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Professional Research Assistant

Requisition Number:

62793

Location:

Boulder, Colorado

City

Boulder

State

Colorado

Employment Type:

Research Faculty

Schedule:

Full-Time

Posting Close Date:

31-Mar-2025

Date Posted:

24-Mar-2025
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Job Summary

The Professional Research Assistant (PRA) will have opportunities to assist staff with data acquisition and calibration of channel-sounding systems and phased-array antennas at 15 GHz, 28 GHz, and 140 GHz for indoor and outdoor use.  Additional work involves calibration and verification of the performance of the channel sounders, including experiment design, data acquisition, data processing, analysis of key quantities and performance metrics, and documentation of results.  The PRA will assist in curating, developing, and publishing a library of wireless propagation measurement-based models to design and verify wireless circuits.  The objective is to equip modeling tools with libraries of wireless propagation measurement-based models.

The PRA will be part of the NIST Channel Measurement and Modeling project, which has designed and built several channel sounders in the 28, 60 and 140 GHz bands.  Currently, NIST is developing a channel sounder in the 15GHz band.  NIST has also stood up the NextG Channel Model Alliance, a community of stakeholders comprising over 185 organizations worldwide including industry (chip vendors, simulation tool developers, cellular operators), academia and government.  The NextG Channel Model Alliance participants help identify measurement needs, work collaboratively to develop measurement methods and models, in addition to facilitating the collection and dissemination of measurement data.

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.
The University of Colorado Boulder is committed to building a culturally diverse community of faculty, staff, and students dedicated to contributing to an inclusive campus environment. We are an Equal Opportunity employer, including 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 Communications Technology Laboratory HQ GP at NIST.

What Your Key Responsibilities Will Be

  • Design and perform channel sounding experiments and compare experimental results to theoretical channel propagation models.
  • Supply high quality measurements for modeling and analysis.
  • Curate and document measurement dataset for dissemination.
  • Keep a well-maintained log of experimental activities.

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 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.

What We Can Offer

  • The salary range for this full-time Professional Research Assistant is $62,000 - $105,000 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

  • Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering or related field.

What We Would Like You to Have

  • Research experience involving one or more of the following areas: Communications systems, digital signal processing, channel sounding, systems engineering and/or RF electronics.
  • Solid understanding of RF engineering, EM theory, mathematics, instrumentation, and advanced timing systems.
  • Programming skills for instrumentation control, signal processing and analysis are required (MATLAB/python/etc.).
  • Familiarity and ability to perform laboratory measurements using test equipment such as high-speed digitizers, VNAs, Spectrum Analyzers, Power meters, frequency counters.

Special Instructions

To apply, please submit the following materials:
  1. Resume/CV
  2. Cover Letter
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 March 31, 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