This position is part of the National Institute of Standards (NIST) Professional Research Experience
(PREP) program. NIST recognizes that its research staff may wish to collaborate with researchers at
academic institutions on specific projects of mutual interest, thus requires that such institutions must be
the recipient of a PREP award. The PREP program requires staff from a wide range of backgrounds to
work on scientific research in many areas. Employees in this position will perform technical work that
underpins the scientific research of the collaboration.
Research Title: Physical AI Researcher
The work will entail:
NIST is investigating the performance of commercial and custom AI systems (hardware and software) for
Physical AI applications, specifically in machine learning, reinforcement learning, and foundation model
training for Vision-Language Models (VLMs) and Vision-Language Action (VLA) architectures.
The work will focus on leveraging physics-based simulations (e.g., Gazebo, MuJoCo, Drake) and synthetic data
generation within platforms like NVIDIA IsaacSim / GR00T / Cosmos to conduct experiments, analyze
system capabilities, and generate high-quality data to train robust Physical AI systems.
Key responsibilities will include but are not limited to:
-Develop Physical AI applications using machine learning and reinforcement learning.
-Research and develop Foundational model training for Vision-Language Models (VLMs) and
Vision-Language Action (VLA) architectures.
-Research and develop methods for synthetic data generation within platforms like NVIDIA
IsaacSim / GR00T / Cosmos to conduct experiments to analyze system capabilities, and generate
high-quality data to train robust Physical AI Systems.
-Write reports and develop weekly presentations to explain the progress of the project
-Work Schedule: On-campus (Gaithersburg, MD), Full-Time (40 hrs / week)
Qualifications
Candidates must be eligible to obtain a Department of Commerce background check for facility access.
Education: Engineering / Computer Science majors with Master’s Degree or Ph.D, or in the final year
of degree (e.g., Computer Science, Robotics, Mechanical Engineering or similar)
-Strong programming experience in Python and C++
-Experience in AI / Machine Learning frameworks (e.g., TensorFlow, PyTorch, etc.)
-Experience with developing and applying tools for Machine Learning, Reinforcement Learning, and
Foundational Models for Vision-Language Models (VLM) and Vision-Language Action (VLA)
architectures
-Experience in Synthetic data generation in and for NVIDIA IsaacSim, GR00T, and Cosmos
environments
-Experience in Physics-based simulation engines (e.g., Gazebo, MuJoCo, Drake, etc.)
-Experience with version control software and workflow (e.g., Git, GitHub, GitLab, BitBucket, etc)
-Experience with Unix / Linux Operating systems
-Experience with ROS 2 on Linux systems
-Some experience in with CAD software (e.g., SolidWorks, OnShape, etc.)
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.