Postdoctoral Research Associate

Requisition Id 14907 

­­Overview:  

The Data and AI Systems Research Section/Workflow systems Group within the Computer Science and Mathematics Division at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) is seeking a postdoctoral researcher with expertise in distributed intelligence, reasoning models, LLMs, workflow management, and distributed systems to contribute to the development of advanced decentralized intelligence techniques for scientific workflows deployed across heterogeneous computing resources. As a postdoctoral fellow at ORNL, you will join a dynamic team of researchers specializing in workflow management machine learning, distributed computing, and resource optimization leveraging the unique computational resources available at ORNL, including the Frontier supercomputer—the world's first exascale system.

In this role, you will collaborate with leading scientists to design and implement distributed intelligence solutions tailored for large-scale scientific workflows in DOE environments. Your work will be pivotal in advancing the state of the art in resilient infrastructure by developing more efficient and adaptive techniques that maintain robust performance guarantees while optimizing resource utilization across the computing continuum. Additionally, you will investigate innovative approaches to optimize the balance between performance and resilience, considering the complexities of heterogeneous resources and varying workflow requirements across diverse scientific applications.
 

The successful candidate will have the opportunity to use the computational power of the Frontier supercomputer to scale and validate these distributed intelligence algorithms, enabling breakthroughs in scientific research across DOE domains. The candidate will collaborate with DOE’s SWARM project (https://swarm-workflows.org/) members to advance robust, performant, and fault-tolerant execution of DOE scientific workflows. This position offers a unique opportunity to make significant contributions to both theoretical and applied aspects of distributed intelligence, driving advancements in resilient, adaptive AI systems on a global scale.

Responsibilities include, but not limited to:

• Develop novel decentralized methods that accommodate the diverse requirements of scientific workflows across the computing continuum.
• Develop and apply LLM-enabled swarm intelligence techniques for large-scale scientific workflows to advance research efforts across DOE scientific applications.
• Develop and apply distributed intelligence methods on heterogeneous computing resources from edge devices to leadership-class systems.
• Develop novel mathematically rigorous approaches to optimize the trade-off between performance and resilience especially in the context of large-scale distributed systems.
• Communicate and coordinate experimental results with other domain experts to facilitate collaboration.
• Present and report research results and publish scientific results in peer-reviewed journals or conferences.

Basic Qualifications:

• A PhD in Computer Science, Applied Mathematics, Computational Science, or related discipline completed within the last five years.
• Demonstrated hands-on experience and understanding of developing and applying distributed intelligence methods to workflows and resource management problems.
• Demonstrated research experience with AI and distributed systems techniques.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Knowledge of distributed intelligence algorithms and emergent behavior systems.
• Knowledge of distributed scientific workflow management and resource orchestration.
• Knowledge of fault-tolerance and resilience techniques in distributed systems.
• Knowledge of high-performance computing and its applications across the computing continuum.
• An excellent record of productive and creative research as demonstrated by publications in top peer-reviewed journals.
• Motivated self-starter with the ability to work independently and to participate creatively in collaborative and frequently interacting teams of researchers.

Special Requirements:

Applicants cannot have received their PhD more than five years prior to the date of application and must complete all degree requirements before starting their appointment. The appointment length will be up to 24 months with the potential for extension. Initial appointments and extensions are subject to performance and availability of funding.

Please submit three letters of reference when applying to this position. You may upload these directly to your application or have them sent to Postdocrecruitment@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

About ORNL

As a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science national laboratory, ORNL has an impressive 80-year legacy of addressing the nation’s most pressing challenges. Our team is made up of over 7,000 dedicated and innovative individuals! Our goal is to create an environment where a variety of perspectives and backgrounds are valued, ensuring ORNL is known as a top choice for employment. These principles are essential for supporting our broader mission to drive scientific breakthroughs and translate them into solutions for energy, environmental, and security challenges facing the nation.
 

Benefits:

ORNL offers competitive pay and benefits programs to attract and retain individuals who demonstrate exceptional work behaviors. The laboratory provides a range of employee benefits, including medical and retirement plans and flexible work hours, to support the well-being of you and your family. Employee amenities such as on-site fitness, banking, and cafeteria facilities are also available for added 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.

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

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.