Energy Institute Research Associate – Open Pool

Colorado State University•Fort Collins, CO

1d•Onsite

About The Position

This position resides at the Powerhouse Energy Campus and METEC facility, both of which are industrial working environments. Research Associates from level I-III will collaborate with project coordinator(s), Senior Research Associates, Directors and Research Scientists to conduct research efforts including field work to assess emissions at a variety of locations, analysis of data, and/or the development of simulation software. Additionally, the Research Associates will foster relationships with customers and other research groups engaged in collaborative projects. The roles will build strong and positive working relationships with staff, unit directors, researchers, campus faculty and administrators, as well as external community and business partners as required with each project grant. Occasional travel and working non-standard hours are expected. The Research Associates I, II, or III will support other organizational priorities, as defined by the director of the Zimmerle Research Group.

Requirements

Detail-oriented with high level of attention to safe operation of laboratory and industrial equipment.
Strong written and verbal communication skills.
Strong physical science background focused on mechanical system, fluids, and gasses.
Demonstrated ability to interact effectively with researchers, faculty, and students for advising and troubleshooting as well as ability to explain complex procedures.
Candidates should have peak strength in at least one of the two areas: laboratory development or related software development.
Experience with pressurized gas systems.
Experience acquiring, analyzing, and doing quality control on large data sets, including statistical analyses.
Experience with instrumentation, data loggers, sensors (acquisition, installation, application, calibration, recording), and controls.
Demonstratable ability to troubleshoot, debug and repair hardware systems.
Experience with installation, configuration, calibration, operation of scientific instrumentation.
Experience developing custom software to acquire, analyze, and automate analysis tasks.
Experience with statistical and/or AI analysis methods.
Experience with computer simulation of dynamic physical systems.
Bachelor’s degree and fewer than 3 years of relevant, post-baccalaureate professional research experience (for Research Associate I).
Bachelor’s degree with more than 3 years of relevant professional research experience, or a Master’s degree (for Research Associate II).
Bachelor’s degree with at least 5 years of relevant professional research experience, or a Master’s degree with at least 2 years of experience (for Research Associate III).
Individuals with a PhD and no prior experience may be appointed at the Research Associate III level, if appropriate.

Nice To Haves

Prior coursework or research experience in a mechanical, chemical, or petroleum engineering or related field with strong physical science background.
Prior coursework or research experience in operation of industrial facilities, especially oil and gas facilities.
Experience with laboratory, field, or computational research methods.
Ability to work independently and collaboratively in a research environment.
Experience with data analysis, scientific writing, or specialized research techniques.

Responsibilities

Responsible for the day-to-day operations for research efforts.
Construction and maintenance of physical laboratory systems, and/or construction and maintenance of digital twin models of these systems.
Design, maintenance, and operations of experiments and actively participating in research efforts.
Participation in field measurement campaigns may be required.
Participate in design and fabrication of experimental cyber-physical experiments and understand the impacts to data collection and analysis.
Drive all activities related to complete segments of testing and development for 1-3 projects simultaneously with minimal oversight.
Collaborate with colleagues to develop written instrumentation and data collection practices, standard protocols and manuals.
Contribute to early-stage design, scope development, and budget construction of experimental systems.
Assist in writing papers, reports and otherwise disseminating research results.
Facilitate and/or lead research projects with minimal day-to-day oversight from the supervising scientist, including experimental planning, data collection, project data analysis, and publication efforts.
Present results of research at appropriate forums.
Supervises graduate and undergraduate research assistants and provides supervision for clients and affiliated staff while conducting testing scenarios during field campaigns.