Postdoctoral Research Associate - HPC and Al

Requisition Id 12466 

Overview:  

The Analytics and AI Methods at Scale (AAIMS) group at the National Center of Computational Science (NCCS) at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) is seeking motivated and talented postdoctoral research associate(s) to join our dynamic team. This role lies at the exciting intersection of High-Performance Computing (HPC) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) at scale with a particular focus on AI for Science, Natural Language Processing (NLP), and AI for Operations. Our aim is to push the boundaries of computational science by integrating advanced AI methods with state-of-the-art high-performance computing.

Key Research Areas:

• AI for Science: Research and development of large-scale AI models for science, focusing on pre-training, instruction-based fine-tuning, and integrating human-in-the-loop reinforcement learning approaches.

• Responsible AI: Exploration of privacy-preserving AI techniques, enhancing AI safety, and addressing vulnerabilities and defenses in Large Language Models (LLMs). 

• Distributed Machine Learning: Specialization in data parallelism, model-parallelism, and collective communication strategies in large-scale environments. Proficiency in frameworks such as DeepSpeed, FSDP, Megatron are highly valued.

• AI for Operations: Building scalable, energy-efficient, trustworthy, and safe AI solutions for operations at the lab and Department of Energy (in general) with a particular focus on event forecasting, predictive maintenance, and corrective actions. The role would encompass working on forecasting, predictive, and text generation algorithms with Large Language Models.

The NCCS is the home of the world’s first exascale supercomputer Frontier. Our Leadership Computing Program (OLCF) provides world class computing facilities to applications across all computational domains and disciplines. We are an inclusive dynamic environment that welcomes those with initiative and creativity.

As a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science national laboratory, ORNL has an extraordinary 80-year history of solving the nation’s biggest problems. We have a dedicated and creative staff of over 6,000 people! Our vision for diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) is to cultivate an environment and practices that foster diversity in ideas and in the people across the organization, as well as to ensure ORNL is recognized as a workplace of choice. These elements are critical for enabling the execution of ORNL’s broader mission to accelerate scientific discoveries and their translation into energy, environment, and security solutions for the nation.

Major Duties and Responsibilities:

• Collaborate with internal and external researchers on a variety of AI/ML-related research and projects.

• Present and report research results, publish scientific results in top-tier AI/NLP peer reviewed conferences/journals in a timely fashion.

• Deliver ORNL’s mission by aligning behaviors, priorities, and interactions with our core values of Impact, Integrity, Teamwork, Safety, and Service. Promote diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility by fostering a respectful workplace – in how we treat one another, work together, and measure success.

Basic Qualifications:

• Ph.D. in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or a field closely related to the job duties of this position.

Preferred Requirements:

• The prospective candidate should be well-versed with deep neural networks, have experience working on PyTorch or similar DL frameworks, programming in Python (preferred), NLP packages and pipelines, usage and understanding of basic Machine Learning algorithms and tools.

• Solid record of productive research demonstrated by publications in peer-reviewed AI/NLP/ML conferences or journals, and/or open-source software development.

• Excellent written and oral communication skills

• Motivated self-starter with ability to work independently and to participate creatively in collaborative teams across the laboratory

• Ability to function well in a fast-paced research environment, set priorities to accomplish multiple tasks within deadlines, and to adapt to ever changing needs.

Please submit three letters of reference when applying to this position. You may upload these directly to your application or have them sent to recruiting@ornl.gov with the position title and number referenced in the subject line.

Instructions to upload documents to your candidate profile:

• Login to your account via jobs.ornl.gov

• View Profile

• Under the My Documents section, select Add a Document

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 the following: 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.

In addition, we offer a flexible work environment that supports both the organization and the employee. A hybrid/onsite working arrangement may be available with this position.

If you have difficulty using the online application system or need an accommodation to apply due to a disability, please email: ORNLRecruiting@ornl.gov or call 1.866.963.9545.

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.