Purpose

The Building Envelope Materials Research (BEMR) Group in the Building Technologies Research and Integration Center (BTRIC) in the Building and Transportation Science Division (BTSD) at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) is seeking applicants for a Senior Research and Development Staff position. The work in this group supports the U.S. DOE Building Technology Office and other customers by developing state-of-the-art and cost-effective building envelope technologies that make new and existing buildings energy efficient, durable, comfortable, grid-interactive, sustainable, and have low embodied energy.

Major Duties/Responsibilities

You will be responsible for developing and conducting research in advanced construction. For example:

• Preparing proposals on innovative construction approaches for new buildings and envelope retrofits.
• Conducting, coordinating, and reporting complex research on the development and integration of advanced manufacturing practices into offsite and onsite construction.
• Developing experimental setups, conducting experiments, and analyzing results.
• Presenting research results to ORNL staff, DOE, industry, and academia in the form of invited talks, conference papers, and peer-reviewed journal papers.
• Coordinating the procurement, installation, and operation of new equipment. For example, collaborative robots and respective sensors and controls.
• Collaborating in multidisciplinary teams that are composed of researchers from various areas of expertise at ORNL (e.g, material science, organic and inorganic chemistry, automation, and sensors and controls among others).
• Interacting and collaborating with researchers from universities, national laboratories, and private industry.

Qualifications

M.S. or PhD in mechanical engineering, civil engineering, industrial engineering, construction engineering, or related discipline is required. Required work experience is a minimum of 12 years for a candidate with an M.S. degree and a minimum of six years for a candidate with a PhD degree. Knowledge of building construction, energy efficiency in buildings, prefabrication of building components, manufacturing science and technology, flexible industrial automation, human machine interaction, and/or optimization of factory production lines is desired. Background in the development and implementation of digital twins and application of machine learning is a plus.

The candidate should have

1. Excellent oral and written communication skills.
2. Strong interpersonal skills to support team building, mentoring of junior staff, partnering, and leadership.
3. Experience leading R&D teams.
4. Ability to work individually and as part of a diverse team.
5. Ability to develop and/or maintain strong relationships through active participation in building industry organizations and events.
6. Strong, proven publication/patent record.