Post Doctorate Research Associate- Environmental Sensors

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory • Richland, WA

12d

About The Position

At PNNL, our core capabilities are divided among major departments that we refer to as Directorates within the Lab, focused on a specific area of scientific research or other function, with its own leadership team and dedicated budget.
Our Science & Technology directorates include National Security, Earth and Biological Sciences, Physical and Computational Sciences, and Energy and Environment. In addition, we have an Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory, a Department of Energy, Office of Science user facility housed on the PNNL campus. The Energy and Environment Directorate delivers science and technology solutions for the nation’s biggest energy and environmental challenges. Our more than 1,700 staff support the Department of Energy (DOE), delivering on key DOE mission areas including: modernizing our nation’s power grid to maintain a reliable, affordable, secure, and resilient electricity delivery infrastructure; research, development, validation, and effective utilization of renewable energy and efficiency technologies that improve the affordability, reliability, resiliency, and security of the American energy system; and resolving complex issues in nuclear science, energy, and environmental management. The Earth Systems Science Division, part of the Energy and Environment Directorate, provides leadership and solutions that advance Earth system opportunities for energy systems and national security. We are a multidisciplinary division connected by a shared commitment to innovate and collaborate towards solving complex problems in the dynamic Earth system

Make measurable impact on climate resiliency and renewable energy.

Join a world-class, interdisciplinary team building next‑generation sensing systems to understand and predict complex Earth and energy systems. As a Postdoctoral Research Associate in Environmental Sensors, you will design, prototype, and deploy advanced sensor platforms—spanning RF, acoustic, and chemical detection—to power real-time insights for climate modeling, wildlife monitoring, renewable generation, grid resiliency, environmental remediation, and small-city systems.

About the Team
The Earth Systems Predictability & Resiliency Group provides operational intelligence and system performance forecasting to enable decision support across human‑Earth processes (climate, water, land use, energy system interactions). We combine sensing and measurement, environmental forensics, high‑performance computing, spatiotemporal modeling, GIS algorithms, machine learning/AI, and geovisualization to deliver actionable science for federally funded programs.

Requirements

• Candidates must have received a PhD within the past five years (60 months) or within the next 8 months from an accredited college or university.
• PhD in Electrical Engineering or closely related field (e.g., Electrical & Computer Engineering, Applied Physics, Mechatronics).
• Hands-on RF telemetry system design and testing.
• Deep experience with low‑power electronics and RF circuits/subsystems: amplifiers, filters, oscillators, mixers, matching networks, and antenna design.
• Proficiency in C/C++, MATLAB/Simulink, and assembly for embedded/firmware development; experience with instrumentation and DAQ.
• Experience with acoustic or radio telemetry, signal processing, and field deployments (wildlife or aquatic systems preferred).
• Track record of peer‑reviewed publications and contributions to intellectual property.

Nice To Haves

• Familiarity with GIS/spatiotemporal analysis, statistics, and/or ML/AI integration for sensor data pipelines (nice to have).

Responsibilities

• Design & prototype advanced sensors (RF, acoustic, chemical) for challenging environments—including deep subsurface, Arctic conditions, and aquatic/forested settings.
• Develop RF telemetry systems to detect and track bats and birds (e.g., VHF/UHF), and integrate with radio networks and analytics.
• Build underwater acoustic telemetry solutions (hydrophones/arrays) to detect and track fish or other species in rivers and oceans.
• Conduct end‑to-end experiments: electronics design, lab testing, field deployment, signal acquisition, data QA/QC, and performance validation.
• Integrate sensing streams with geospatial/spatiotemporal models, statistics, machine learning, and decision‑support workflows.
• Publish and protect your work: author high‑impact papers; contribute to intellectual property (disclosures/patents); support proposals.
• Collaborate across disciplines with environmental modelers, statisticians, ML/AI experts, and domain scientists in climate, energy, and ecology.

Benefits

• Employees and their families are offered medical insurance, dental insurance, vision insurance, robust telehealth care options, several mental health benefits, free wellness coaching, health savings account, flexible spending accounts, basic life insurance, disability insurance, employee assistance program, business travel insurance, tuition assistance, relocation, backup childcare, legal benefits, supplemental parental bonding leave, surrogacy and adoption assistance, and fertility support.
• Employees are automatically enrolled in our company-funded pension plan and may enroll in our 401 (k) savings plan with company match.
• Employees may accrue up to 120 vacation hours per year and may receive ten paid holidays per year.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level
• Education Level: Ph.D. or professional degree