Posting Title

Postdoctoral Researcher – Polyester Deconstruction & Upcycling

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Location

CO - Golden

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Position Type

Postdoc (Fixed Term)

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Hours Per Week

40

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Working at NREL

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), located at the foothills of the Rocky Mountains in Golden, Colorado is the nation's primary laboratory for research and development of renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies.

From day one at NREL, you’ll connect with coworkers driven by the same mission to save the planet. By joining an organization that values a supportive, inclusive, and flexible work environment, you’ll have the opportunity to engage through our ten employee resource groups, numerous employee-driven clubs, and learning and professional development classes.

NREL supports inclusive, diverse, and unbiased hiring practices that promote creativity and innovation. By collaborating with organizations that focus on diverse talent pools, reaching out to underrepresented demographics, and providing an inclusive application and interview process, our Talent Acquisition team aims to hear all voices equally. We strive to attract a highly diverse workforce and create a culture where every employee feels welcomed and respected and they can be their authentic selves.

Our planet needs us! Learn about NREL’s critical objectives, and see how NREL is focused on saving the planet.

Note: Research suggests that potential job seekers may self-select out of opportunities if they don't meet 100% of the job requirements. We encourage anyone who is interested in this opportunity to apply. We seek dedicated people who believe they have the skills and ambition to succeed at NREL to apply for this role.

Job Description

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Golden, Colorado, is the nation's primary laboratory for research, development, and deployment of renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies. The NREL mission is to develop renewable energy and energy efficient technologies and practices, advance related science and engineering, and transfer knowledge and innovation to address the nation’s energy and environmental goals. This position is within the Renewable Resources and Enabling Sciences Center, which is part of the Bioenergy Science and Technology Directorate.  The center has strong thrusts in polymer design and upcycling, separations, synthetic biology and bioconversion, analytical sciences, computational modeling, and lignocellulosic chemistry and catalysis. 
The Postdoctoral Researcher will work on highly collaborative and interdisciplinary projects across multiple groups including polymer science, catalysis, reaction engineering, and biology.  
The Postdoctoral Researcher will design, construct, evolve, evaluate, and scale a mixed polyester deconstruction and integrated reconstruction (i.e., polymer synthesis) process. This will involve designing and optimized reaction conditions for polyester depolymerization, downstream separations and monomer purification, and reconstruction of polyesters. This role will also involve working closely with the NREL analysis team to develop comprehensive technoeconomic analysis and life cycle assessments of the developed technology. 
 

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Basic Qualifications

Must be a recent PhD graduate within the last three years.

* Must meet educational requirements prior to employment start date.

Additional Required Qualifications

The successful candidate will be able to:
•    Work safely and independently in a laboratory setting, with a strong safety record
•    Develop research goals and tasks for established project directions
•    Design, execute, and troubleshoot experiments
•    Problem solve to overcome technical challenges
•    Analyze data to generate strong conclusions, including via application of statistical tests
•    Collaborate productively with others both within and across disciplines
•    Communicate effectively, with the ability to present technical results to a broad audience including