Postdoctoral Research Associate

Requisition Id15434

Overview:

The Advanced Computing in Health Sciences (ACH) section at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) is seekingqualified applicants for aPostdoctoral Research Associateposition for health research projects.The research activities include HIPAA compliant research data that has been entrusted to ORNL by sponsors such as the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). As such, you will have the opportunity to work on some of the most challenging and impactful research and development programs in healthcare informatics, bioinformatics, high performance computing and deep learning.

The candidate will work in a collaborative research and development environment focusing on designing, implementing, and applying robust and high performance applications for biomedical research. The candidate's work will focus on developing AI methods, training AI models, and creating agentic AI workflows on DOE supercomputers and applying them to population-level cancer research in collaboration with partners at institutions like the VA and NCI. It will also include collaborations across the ORNL and DOE research landscape. This position requires novel thinking, teamwork, and discovery in finding new approaches for analyzing massive and complex data, collaborating with experts, and publishing significant results.

Major Duties and Responsibilities:

As a Computational Scientist you will be responsible for:

• Developing high-quality code following best practices in the community for documentation, provenance, version control, etc.
• Participating in research projects in AI modeling and workflows using high performance computing with applications to health sciences and related domains
• Preparing manuscripts and dissemination of research results in publications and conferences.
• Working in secure enclaves and open computing environments on a wide variety of applied areas.
• Conducting tasks independently and communicate effectively to team members and stakeholders.
• Delivering ORNL's mission by aligning behaviors, priorities, and interactions with our core values of Impact, Integrity, Teamwork, Safety, and Service.

Basic Qualifications:

• PhD in a computational discipline such as Data Science, Computer Science, Applied Mathematics and Statistics, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Biomedical Engineering, or a related field.
• Experience with a deep learning framework like PyTorch.
• Strong interest in developing and using agentic AI workflows to advance the way in which computational science is conducted
• Self-disciplined work ethic and eagerness to tackle challenging research problems.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Familiarity with running on scheduled clusters or cloud services.
• Experience in developing and applying biostatistics, AI, and ML-based solutions to healthcare data.
• Experience developing or applying parallel algorithms and scalable workflows for HPC resources.
• Experience developing or applying privacy-enhancing technologies such as federated learning, differential privacy, and synthetic data
• Experience with generative AI methods and libraries (architectures like large language models and vision transformers, inference engines like vLLM, domain specific languages like Triton, workflow libraries like LangGraph, etc.).

Security, Credentialing, and Eligibility Requirements:
For employment at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), a Real ID compliant form of identification will be required. Additionally, ORNL is subject to Department of Energy (DOE) access restrictions. All employees must also be able to obtain and maintain a federal Personal Identity Verification (PIV) card as mandated by Homeland Security Presidential Directive 12 (HSPD-12) and Department of Energy (DOE) Order 473.1A, which requires a favorable post-employment background investigation.

To obtain this credential, new employees must successfully complete and pass a Federal Tier 1 background check investigation. This investigation includes a declaration of illegal drug activities, including use, supply, possession, or manufacture within the last year. This includes marijuana and cannabis derivatives, which are still considered illegal under federal law, regardless of state laws.

For foreign national candidates:
If you have not resided in the U.S. for three consecutive years, you are not eligible for the PIV credential and instead will need to obtain a favorable Local Site Specific Only (LSSO) risk determination to maintain employment. Once you meet the three-year residency requirement, you will be required to obtain a PIV credential to maintain employment.

Benefits at ORNL:

ORNL offers competitive pay and benefits programs to attract and retain talented people. The laboratory offers many employee benefits, including medical and retirement plans and flexible work hours, to help you and your family live happy and healthy. Employee amenities such as on-site fitness, banking, and cafeteria facilities are also provided for convenience.

Other benefits include:Prescription Drug Plan, Dental Plan, Vision Plan, 401(k) Retirement Plan, Contributory Pension Plan,Life Insurance, Disability Benefits, Generous Vacation and Holidays, Parental Leave, Legal Insurance with Identity Theft Protection, Employee Assistance Plan, Flexible Spending Accounts, Health Savings Accounts, Wellness Programs, Educational Assistance, Relocation Assistance, and Employee Discounts.

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This position will remain open for a minimum of 5 days after which it will close when a qualified candidate is identified and/or hired.

We accept Word (.doc, .docx), Adobe (unsecured .pdf), Rich Text Format (.rtf), and HTML (.htm, .html) up to 5MB in size. Resumes from third party vendors will not be accepted; these resumes will be deleted and the candidates submitted will not be considered for employment.

If you have trouble applying for a position, please email ORNLRecruiting@ornl.gov.

ORNL is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants, including individuals with disabilities and protected veterans, are encouraged to apply. UT-Battelle is an E-Verify employer.