RESEARCH TECHNICIAN I

Duke Careers•Durham, NC

1d•$18 - $26•Onsite

About The Position

Established in 1930, Duke University School of Medicine is the youngest of the nation's top medical schools. Ranked sixth among medical schools in the nation, the School takes pride in being an inclusive community of outstanding learners, investigators, clinicians, and staff where interdisciplinary collaboration is embraced and great ideas accelerate translation of fundamental scientific discoveries to improve human health locally and around the globe. Composed of more than 2,600 faculty physicians and researchers, nearly 2,000 students, and more than 6,200 staff, the Duke University School of Medicine along with the Duke University School of Nursing, and Duke University Health System comprise Duke Health, a world-class academic medical center. The Health System encompasses Duke University Hospital, Duke Regional Hospital, Duke Raleigh Hospital, Duke Health Integrated Practice, Duke Primary Care, Duke Home Care and Hospice, Duke Health and Wellness, and multiple affiliations. We are seeking a graduate research assistant with a Master’s degree, or near completion of a Master’s degree, in Biomedical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Robotics, or a closely related field. The position will support research on multimodal sensing and autonomous robotic resection workflows for precision surgical tools. The work will combine medical robotics, computer vision, experimental analysis, and surgical data-driven learning to advance safer and more effective image- and sensor-guided intervention. The candidate will contribute to the development, integration, and evaluation of robotic systems for precision scalpel control and tissue interaction analysis. A complementary component of the role will involve coordination with clinicians and hospital staff to support collection of high-quality surgical data from operative settings. These data will be used to inform experimental design, improve model development, and support decision-making through combined learning from laboratory experiments and clinical observations.

Requirements

Associate's degree in botany, biology, zoology, psychology or other science related scientific field.
No experience required above education/training requirement OR AN EQUIVALENT COMBINATION OF RELEVANT EDUCATION AND/OR EXPERIENCE

Nice To Haves

Master’s degree completed or near completion in Biomedical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Robotics, or a related field.
Strong interest in medical robotics, surgical robotics, computer vision, multimodal sensing, or image-guided intervention.
Experience with experimental setup, data acquisition, quantitative analysis, and technical documentation.
Programming experience in Python, MATLAB, C++, or similar technical computing environments.
Ability to work independently while coordinating with multidisciplinary engineering and clinical teams.
Experience with robotic systems, medical imaging, surgical tools, motion tracking, or sensor integration.
Familiarity with computer vision, machine learning, signal processing, control, or experimental biomechanics.
Prior experience with biomedical, clinical, or IRB-regulated research.
Strong communication, organization, troubleshooting, and scientific documentation skills.

Responsibilities

Develop, integrate, and test robotic workflows for precision surgical tool control and autonomous resection.
Design and conduct laboratory experiments using robotic systems, surgical devices, sensors, and tissue-mimicking or biological samples.
Coordinate with clinicians, operating room staff, and research personnel for IRB-regulated surgical data collection.
Organize, process, and analyze experimental and clinical datasets to support model development and decision-making.
Maintain clear documentation of experimental protocols, datasets, system configurations, and results.
Contribute to research reports, grant milestones, manuscripts, and presentations.