Fellow; Post Doc

Fellow (Post Doc) About This Role

K-State Olathe invites applications for a Postdoctoral Researcher in Computer and Data Science to contribute to an FDA‑funded research program. This 12‑month term position is renewable annually for up to 3 years contingent upon funding, with an anticipated commitment of approximately 95% research and development (R&D) and 5% other scholarly or collaborative activities. The immediate supervisor for this position will be Professor Majid Jaberi‑Douraki.

The Postdoctoral Researcher will play a key role in advancing the project’s data science and regulatory informatics objectives. The position will focus on automating and annotating data, developing APIs, and creating navigation tools to support large‑scale tracking and extraction of information from online sources and published records. The postdoc will work closely with Dr. Xuan Xu to develop knowledge graphs and apply Large Language Models (LLMs) within the project, and with Dr.

Melissa Mercer, who will provide complementary expertise in project management and data workflows. This position is designed for a motivated scholar eager to engage in multi‑ and inter‑disciplinary research and to contribute to building novel computational tools that advance regulatory science, animal health, and biomedical applications.

• Lead data curation, annotation, and automation workflows for regulatory and biomedical datasets.
• Design and implement customized scripts, APIs, and web‑crawling pipelines to facilitate structured and unstructured data extraction.
• Contribute to the development of knowledge graphs and LLM‑based tools to enhance data integration and accessibility.
• Collaborate with academic, government, and industry partners to advance project deliverables.
• Prepare and contribute to peer‑reviewed publications, technical reports, and conference presentations.
• Support database development and data infrastructure required for long‑term project success.

Kansas State University’s Olathe campus was launched in April 2011 and is the newest campus in the university’s system. The campus is located in Johnson County and the Greater Kansas City metro area. It is a strategic partner of the Johnson County Education and Research Triangle, which was created in 2008 when residents invested in the county’s future by voting for a one‑eighth cent sales tax.

The proceeds from this tax generate more than $20 million a year to fund higher education through a unique partnership among Johnson County, the University of Kansas, and Kansas State University.

K‑State Olathe provides a unique work culture that offers a variety of professional development opportunities and a community‑building committee to organize campus‑wide activities that have included social gatherings, service opportunities, and team‑building workshops. Professional development opportunities on campus and in the community that employees regularly participate in include employee tuition assistance for academic programs, on‑campus lunch and learns, professional development workshops on campus, Leadership Olathe, and various regional Chamber activities.

This position is hybrid eligible. It is expected to be performed on‑site approximately three (3) days a week. All employees must reside in the United States when they begin working to comply with state law. K‑State is unable to provide remote or hybrid work opportunities for residents of the state of Idaho.

• Doctoral degree.

• PhD in Computer Science, Data Science, or a closely related field.
• Demonstrated expertise in data science, data analytics, automation, or NLP.
• Strong programming skills (e.g., Python, R, Java, or similar) for building tools and workflows with large datasets.
• Evidence of peer‑reviewed publications and professional presentations.
• Ability to work both independently and collaboratively within a multi‑disciplinary team.
• Experience with knowledge graphs and/or large language models (LLMs).
• Skills in web scraping/web crawling and automated data integration.
• Background in biomedical, veterinary, or regulatory datasets (e.g., animal health, toxicology, pharmacokinetics).
• Familiarity with database development and management.
• Strong interpersonal, oral, and written communication skills.

Sponsorship eligibility: must be currently authorized to work in the United States at the time of employment.

Position will be based at