Postdoctoral Research Associate - Ames National Laboratory
Core
Conduct experimental research in rare earth metallization, critical materials synthesis, and processing to develop lower-temperature metallothermic routes for producing rare earth metals.
Role type
Postdoctoral Research Associate (Materials Science/Chemistry)
Builds
Rare earth metals, alloys, and critical materials via metallothermic and hydrometallurgical routes
Domain
Materials Science / Critical Materials / Rare Earths
Deliverable
production ML models | product features | dashboards & analysis | research | client delivery | infrastructure | physical/clinical work
Required skills
High-temperature solid-state synthesis, metallothermic reactions, sealed-tube/container reactions, induction heating, vacuum/inert atmosphere processing, phase diagram analysis, crystallography, XRD data acquisition and Rietveld refinement, SEM/EDS interpretation, DSC/TGA analysis, ICP-OES/MS analysis, magnetic property measurements
Preferred skills
Mechanochemistry, ball milling, powder processing, hydrometallurgical extraction, recycling of rare earths, CALPHAD, wet-chemistry methods
Technologies
Induction heating, tube furnaces, box furnaces, vacuum systems, inert atmosphere processing, XRD, SEM, EDS, DSC, TGA, ICP-OES, ICP-MS, LECO, XRF, NMR
Responsibilities
Prepare and process rare-earth-containing reaction mixtures; perform high-temperature reactions using thermal processing methods; retrieve and separate products and evaluate metal–slag separation; analyze yields and impurities; optimize processing parameters; develop and publish research reports and manuscripts
Seniority
Postdoctoral Researcher (early-career researcher)