Postdoctoral Fellow

General Description

Salary: $75,000 - $85,000 a year

PREP Research Associate
CHIPS Funded Project.

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 and thus requires that such institutions be the recipients 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.

Closing material loops to strengthen US semiconductor supply chains

NIST's Engineering Lab (EL) Systems Integration Division, Life Cycle Engineering Group is seeking a researcher in operations research and industrial engineering. We are expanding our research to develop ways of maximizing the value of U.S. microelectronics and semiconductors based on principles of circular economy. Microelectronics are valued for their processing capabilities and the materials that they contain. Operations research is applied to enable value recovery from the perspective of measuring the flow of materials, used in semiconductors, throughout the economy.

We create methods to measure what, when and how much material will become available in the future and viable pathways for reclaiming those materials into the economy. By applying advanced forecasting methods to establish and validate circular pathways for microelectronic recovery, the project will deliver science‑based techniques that strengthen domestic semiconductor manufacturing capabilities. The results will include a suite of decision support tools (metrics, models, and published research) to improve recovery outcomes, thereby strengthening supply chain resiliency via new material sources, and enabling stakeholders to respond dynamically to material availability challenges in the future.

We seek experienced research candidates with a background in micro and nano engineering, operations and/or supply‑chain management, and a Ph.D., M.S. and/or related experience with a record of research in peer‑reviewed publications. US citizenship needed.

• Conduct a literature survey including data collection on state‑of‑the‑art of the microchip manufacturing process and chip product value chain.
• Develop a strong understanding of the microchip market including the strengths and limitations of U.S. chip‑making.
• Develop high fidelity simulation models (across multiple product life cycles and product value chains) to quantify and characterize the material stocks and flows, and uncertainties and risks associated with domestic chip manufacturing sector.
• Propose and develop quantitative evaluation metrics to effectively maximize microchip value.
• Regularly synthesize results and analyses of findings and disseminate these via NIST program partners, special reports, high‑impact journal publications and as presentations at technical conferences.

Desired skills/technical knowledge include a combination from the following:

• An understanding of micro/nano fabrication processes for chips and first‑principle modeling
• Systems thinking, supply chain modeling, and knowledge of integrated production systems
• Data analysis and visualization with Python and/or MATLAB
• Predictive modeling and ML techniques, including dimensionality reduction, regression, and classification (ANOVAs single and multi‑factor, non‑parametric methods)
• Stochastic Modeling (probabilistic models and their applications to manufacturing systems)
• Principles of integrated production systems, including material handling, material flow and information flow, and scheduling.

Please upload the following with your application:

• CV/Resume (Please limit CV to 3 pages only and only include a valid email address for your contact info. Your resume will not be considered if the following information is included on your CV/resume.)
• Self portraits
• Phone number
• Home address/Country
• Citizenship status
• Languages spoken
• Sex/G…