This position is part of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Professional Research Experience Program (PREP). NIST recognizes that its research staff may want to collaborate with researchers at academic institutions on specific projects of mutual interest and, therefore, requires those institutions to be recipients of a PREP award. The PREP program involves staff from a wide range of backgrounds conducting scientific research across various fields. Individuals in this position will perform technical work supporting the collaboration's scientific research.
Research Title:
Part-time Geotechnical Research Faculty
The work will entail:
To support risk mitigation from future hazards and conditions, the PREP research faculty will work with NIST personnel in the Engineering Laboratory to conduct cutting-edge research to inform geotechnical considerations in design standards. The work will focus on the geohazard of scour and erosion to develop a work plan and a framework to develop performance indicators (fragilities) in a lifeline system and assets The position will be fully remote for an anticipated duration of 18 months (November 2027 to April 2028) and approximate workload of 5 hours per week. . Tasks will include:
- literature review for scour-induced behavior from scour and erosion
- Surveying questionnaire to collect stakeholder feedback and methodologies
- Work plan to collect data for scour and erosion from floods, including a stakeholder survey.
- Developing a numerical framework to generate geotechnical performance indicators for typologies of the lifeline system as function of scour depth, flow velocity, and soil erosion characteristics.
Presenting results at internal and occasional external meetings and participating in preparation of a special publication to document findings and potential for incorporation in geotechnical standards.
Candidates must be eligible to obtain a Department of Commerce background check for facility access.
Key responsibilities will include but are not limited to:
- Reviewing scour/erosion literature and identifying a lifeline system with available evaluations of scour and erosion performance for established national typologies for these assets.
- Developing a work plan to collect data, including a surveying document
- Generating a database for a selected large region (e.g., a state) and synthesizing a pilot study for a numerical regional framework to be assessed against acquired field data.
- Exploring analytical means and methods suitable to produce fragilities, including computational capacity, input and uncertainties, and recommending the preferred approach for the pilot framework.
- Developing a generalizable framework based on the regional framework to generate geotechnical fragilities applicable to the typologies in the system, transferable to stakeholders across the nation
- Presenting results at internal meetings, and occasional meetings with external stakeholders.
- Ensuring that results, protocols, software, and documentation have been archived or otherwise transmitted to the larger organization.
Qualifications:
- A doctoral degree in Civil Engineering, Geotechnical Engineering, or Geology, with specialization in geotechnical engineering, or a related field.
- Preference for relevant research experience as principal investigator and for industry experience.
- Familiarity with geotechnical engineering codes, standards, and guidelines.
- Ability to lead multidisciplinary research on geotechnical engineering.
- Demonstrated ability to translate research into publications and disseminated products.
- Strong oral and written communication skills.
The university is an Equal Employment Opportunity employer that does not unlawfully discriminate in any of its programs or activities on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or on any other basis prohibited by applicable law.