Assistant Research Scientist (PREP0004054) Full-time

Assistant Research Scientist

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.

The work will entail: The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Fundamental Thermodynamics Group anticipates an open position performing metrological research to establish a new, higher-accuracy pressure scale based on pneumatic piston gauges. A piston gauge establishes a calculable pressure from the measured piston area and the force (weight) applied to the piston. The uncertainty in pressure is dominated by the uncertainty in “effective area” associated with the piston gauge, including deformation and fluid corrections. The effective area is the “calibration factor” of the piston gauge; it is the quantity that when combined with the loaded forces on the gauge produces the pressure in the fluid line connected to the gauge. This research project aims to characterize a set of piston gauges with an accuracy never yet realized at NIST. These will be used to calibrate customer pressure transducers and piston gauges over the pressure range 50 kPa to 10 MPa.

At NIST, you will gain research experience and measurement skills that are highly valuable for a career in academia, industry, or a national laboratory. Qualified researchers with a bachelor's, master's, or doctoral degree in a STEM field are encouraged to apply. Researchers will work on-site at NIST in Gaithersburg, Maryland.

Key responsibilities will include but are not limited to:

• Perform experimental tasks toward realizing a new, higher accuracy pressure scale based on pneumatic piston gauges
• Data and uncertainty analysis
• Disseminating project results via peer-reviewed publications and public presentations

Qualifications:

• US Citizen is strongly preferred
• PhD (is preferred) in Physics or a related field
• Experience pressure, vacuum, dimensional and/or temperature metrology
• Experience with python programming