R&D Associate - Affordable, Energy Efficient, Resilient Building Envelopes

Requisition Id 14697 

Overview: 

Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) is the largest US Department of Energy (DOE) science and energy laboratory, conducting basic and applied research to deliver transformative solutions to compelling problems in energy and security. Within ORNL, the Building Envelope Materials Research (BEMR) Group develops and deploys affordable, energy efficient and resilient building envelopes for new construction and retrofits to enable DOE’s goals. Our synergistic research areas include building science, material and system development, and advanced construction. With the support from the U.S. DOE Building Technologies Office, we have the most extensive building envelope research portfolio in the nation. We are seeking to add to our team an energetic and creative R&D Staff.

 

Major Duties/Responsibilities: 

• Conduct research on technologies that make building envelopes for new and existing buildings affordable, energy efficient and resilient.
• Develop and implement first-principle numerical models to co-optimize affordability and performance in building envelope components and systems.
• Perform simulations and laboratory and field experiments to evaluate heat transfer and mass transport through novel building envelope materials, assemblies, and systems, as well as their effect on heating and cooling energy use and indoor environmental quality.
• Design and develop experimental setups, conduct experiments, and analyze results. Research areas include new approaches to non-destructively and non-invasively measure building envelope performance.
• Collaborate in multidisciplinary teams that are composed of ORNL researchers with various backgrounds (e.g., material science, non-destructive diagnostic tools, automation, advanced software, and sensors and controls among others).
• Interact and collaborate with researchers from universities, national laboratories, and private industry.
• Present research results to ORNL staff, DOE, industry, and academia in the form of invited talks, conference papers, and peer-reviewed journal papers with high impact factors.
• Contribute to the development of ideas and the assembly of proposals.
• Ensure compliance with environmental, safety, health, and program requirements.
• Maintain a strong commitment to the implementation and continuation of ORNL’s 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 equal opportunity by fostering a respectful workplace – in how we treat one another, work together, and measure success.

 

Basic Qualifications:

• PhD in mechanical engineering, civil engineering, or related discipline; or MS in mechanical engineering, civil engineering, or related discipline with 2 to 7 years of relevant work experience
• Solid academic and research record in heat transfer, thermodynamics, and mass transport, emphasizing modeling and experimental research.
• Knowledge of building construction, energy efficiency, and moisture durability in buildings.
• Experience setting and conducting laboratory experiments.
• Excellent oral and written communication skills.
• Strong interpersonal skills to support team building.
• Ability to work and demonstrate critical thinking individually and as part of a diverse team.
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