Materials Analyst - Assistant Staff Member

Requisition Id 13532 

Overview:  

We are seeking a ceramic engineer or materials engineer with demonstrated laboratory skills in mechanical testing, characterization of multifaceted material powders, traditional ceramic processing, and strong technical writing skills. This Technical Professional position will directly support the Program Director, Deputy Director, and a team of principal investigators with new and existing projects. The selected candidate will interact with, support, and collaborate with a diverse multi-disciplinary team of research professionals, assisting in the mechanical and physical characterization of ceramic powders and their corresponding material mechanical responses.

 

This position resides in the Mechanical Properties and Mechanics Group, Materials in Extremes (MiE) Section of the Materials Science and Technology Division (MSTD), Physical Sciences Directorate (PSD) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). This position involves collaboration with ORNL's National Security Sciences Directorate's Nuclear Nonproliferation Division. The individual will also interact and coordinate with other team members in other ORNL Research Divisions.

 

As a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science national laboratory, ORNL has an extraordinary 80-year history of solving the nation’s biggest problems. We have a dedicated and creative staff of over 6,000 people! Our vision for diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) is to cultivate an environment and practices that foster diversity in ideas and in the people across the organization, as well as to ensure ORNL is recognized as a workplace of choice. These elements are critical for enabling the execution of ORNL’s broader mission to accelerate scientific discoveries and their translation into energy, environment, and security solutions for the nation.

 

Major Duties/Responsibilities: 

• Collaboratively perform thermomechanical evaluations of a wide range of materials including ceramics.
• Collaborate on the identification of techniques/equipment and interpretation of results from ceramic powder characterization and processing.
• Communicate status updates of current work to principal investigator(s) and program management.
• Independently write technical reports summarizing material descriptions and experimentation while providing support for interpreting results and providing recommendations for future work.
• Ensure compliance with environmental, safety, health, and quality program requirements.
• Maintain strong dedication to the implementation and perpetuation of values and ethics.

• Deliver ORNL’s mission by aligning behaviors, priorities, and interactions with our core values of Impact, Integrity, Teamwork, Safety, and Service. Promote diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility by fostering a respectful workplace – in how we treat one another, work together, and measure success.

 

Basic Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in ceramic engineering or a related engineering field

 

Preferred Qualifications:

• A master’s degree in ceramic engineering or a related engineering field
• Demonstrable familiarity with mechanical properties of brittle materials through formal education or through having taken continuing education such as a short course on the topic.
• Experience with ceramic powder characterization (e.g., particle size distribution, specific surface area, pycnometry, x-ray diffraction, and tap density).
• Excellent technical writing skills.
• Ability to function well in a fast-paced research environment, set priorities to accomplish multiple tasks within deadlines, and adapt to ever changing needs.
• Motivated self-starter with the ability to work independently and to participate creatively in collaborative teams across the laboratory.

 

Special Requirements:

Please submit three letters of reference when applying to this position. You may upload these directly to your application or have them sent to