NASA Postdoctoral Program - Computational design for spacecraft applications

The NASA Postdoctoral Program (NPP) offers unique research opportunities to highly-talented scientists to engage in ongoing NASA research projects at a NASA Center, NASA Headquarters, or at a NASA-affiliated research institute. These one- to three-year fellowships are competitive and are designed to advance NASA's missions in space science, Earth science, aeronautics, space operations, exploration systems, and astrobiology. This specific opportunity within the Materials Development & Additive Manufacturing group at JPL seeks a highly motivated Postdoctoral Scholar to conduct basic science research focused on the development of computational design tools for spacecraft applications, specifically leveraging topology optimization and lattice structures. Building upon prior work at JPL, including the open-source lattice design tool UnitcellHub and an internal topology optimization framework, the successful candidate will lead independent scientific research to develop new and innovative approaches to spacecraft design. The postdoctoral scholar will be responsible for vigorously performing and publishing peer-reviewed research, as well as filing relevant intellectual property. This position offers the opportunity for independent scientific research with access to advanced manufacturing capabilities, such as plastic and metal 3D printers, and high-performance computing environments.