Advanced Mobility Research and Development Staff

Requisition Id 11389 

Overview:

The Applied Research for Mobility (ARM) Group within the Vehicle and Mobility Systems Research Section of the Buildings and Transportation Science Division at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory is seeking applicants for the position of Research and Development Staff. The Vehicle and Mobility Systems Research Section focuses on accelerating the development of advanced vehicles and complex mobility systems through advances in connected and autonomous vehicle technologies, communications, systems integration, and decision science. The objective of the ARM Group is to provide leadership in advanced hardware-in-the-loop research to accelerate the development of transportation technologies from component-level to full vehicle.

The purpose of the position is to lead research and development (R&D) in the pursuit and investigation of vehicle systems integration issues, especially in connected and automated vehicles (CAVs) as well as advanced electrified powertrain configurations and at scales ranging from light-duty, passenger vehicles up to heavy-duty Class 8 applications.

Research in this group includes:

• Identify, collect, and process real-world data, such as road network information (geographic information systems data), traffic density and flow, signal timing plan, fleet population mix, routing, etc., and develop realistic scenarios in traffic microsimulation software and virtual environment/vehicle simulators
• Establish detailed light-duty (LD), medium-duty (MD), and/or heavy-duty (HD) vehicle models with emerging mobility technology capabilities, such as connected and automated vehicles (CAVs), cooperative driving automation (CDA), and electrified vehicles.  Develop simulations of these vehicles operating in diverse traffic, geographies, and climates to assess impact of emerging mobility technologies on the transportation system
• Development and implementation of advanced software-in-the-loop (SIL) and hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) systems to support advanced powertrain, CAV and CDA control system design, validation, and verification

Responsibilities:

The successful candidate will function as a research staff member with a group of scientists and engineers and collaborate in performing applied R&D in advanced vehicle systems for the US DOE Vehicle Technologies Office and others. The relevant principal research assets for the ARM group include the Vehicle Systems Integration (VSI) Laboratory (a state-of-the-art component and powertrain hardware-in-the-loop research facility) as well as the Connected and Automated Vehicle Environment (CAVE) Laboratory (a full vehicle-in-the-loop steerable chassis dynamometer facility with virtual environment capabilities).

Working as a team member with experienced researchers, the selected candidate will be expected to contribute to formulating research problems and designing research strategies, conducting experimentation and supportive analyses using state-of-the art methods.  The candidate should have the ability to work creatively and cooperatively as a member of an interdisciplinary research team (principally mechanical and electrical engineers).

Specific job responsibilities and roles include:

• Provide practical engineering support in procurement, installation, integration and expansion of unique ORNL vehicle powertrain assets such as the VSI and CAVE Laboratories. Provide vehicle network communications and software support as appropriate to achieve the realization of an integrated research capability.
• Work independently, and with senior technical staff, to perform applied research and development in advanced vehicle systems engineering in the specific areas of modeling and simulation of advanced (hybrid) vehicles/powertrains (including CAVs technologies), implementation of experimental test platforms for integrated advanced powertrain R&D, and execution of experimental tests in ARM facilities.
• Represent ORNL and make technical presentations to sponsors, technical merit reviewers, and at national/international technical conferences and symposia.
• Publish original research in peer-reviewed journals and other professional technical publications.
• Adhere to ORNL’s culture of safety in all aspects of work performance and general conduct. Develop into a laboratory space manager with overall stewardship for the related VSI facilities.
• Some travel will be required. 

Basic Qualifications:

• A BS degree and at least four years of industrial/academic experience is required with the majority of experience in the automotive engineering field.
• Background experience and current field of study should have an emphasis on hybrid electric, plug-in hybrid electric, or battery electric vehicle systems including modeling and simulation, development of supervisory control algorithms, integrated powertrain system design, and connected and automated vehicles.
• Familiarity with the development and implementation of advanced software-in-the-loop (SIL) and hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) systems to support advanced power-train control system design, validation, and verification. 
• Proficiency in the use of industry standard modeling and simulation tools, such as MATLAB/SIMULINK
• Excellent oral and written communication skills to support regular interactions with ORNL staff, management, sponsors and others and to prepare reports, publications, and journal articles.
• Strong interpersonal skills to support team building and leadership. This includes ability to both advise and learn in multi-disciplinary environment with staff from diverse technical backgrounds.
• Demonstrated initiative and ability to learn and provide creative approaches to performing technical projects and solving technical challenges.
• A command of standard Microsoft Office tools.

Preferred Qualifications:  

• A PhD in mechanical engineering or similar is preferred with prior experience in advanced vehicle control systems with emphasis on CAVs
• Knowledge of (and preferable working exposure to) rapid prototyping tools (e.g., Motohawk, Raptor, Pi Innovo, dSpace ControlDesk/MABX, National Instruments LabVIEW/Real-time hardware systems, Python, etc.).
• Demonstrated knowledge in the use of specialized vehicle level modeling tools, such as Autonomie, GTPower or equivalent.
• Experience with AVL PUMA, or similar dyno test cell management system is preferred.

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.