Postdoctoral Research Associate, Translational AI Center (TrAC)

Summary of Duties and Responsibilities

The Translational AI Center (TrAC) at Iowa State University seeks a Postdoctoral Research Associate to advance uncertainty quantification for large language models and agentic AI systems. The successful candidate will develop large-scale, trustworthy agentic AI frameworks for agricultural security applications, with an emphasis on detecting, understanding, and responding to biological threats. The position will involve close collaboration with interdisciplinary teams spanning artificial intelligence, engineering, agriculture, plant and animal sciences, and cybersecurity. The scholar will also contribute to TrAC's education and workforce development mission by developing and delivering AI workshops, tutorials, and microcredential programs. Expected activities include publishing high-impact research, mentoring graduate students, contributing to research proposals, and supporting the development of externally funded, multi-institutional projects.

Required Minimum Qualifications

• Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, Data Science, Artificial Intelligence, or a closely related field by the start date of employment.
• Demonstrated research experience in artificial intelligence, machine learning, or a related area.
• Demonstrated research experience with large language models, generative AI, agentic AI, or related foundation model technologies.
• Strong programming skills in Python and experience with modern machine learning frameworks.

Preferred Qualifications

• Research experience in uncertainty quantification, model calibration, confidence estimation, hallucination detection, or reliability assessment for large language models and agentic AI systems.
• Experience designing and developing multi-agent systems, tool-using AI agents, retrieval-augmented generation systems, or autonomous reasoning and planning workflows.
• Experience applying artificial intelligence to agricultural systems, biosecurity, biological threat detection, plant health, animal health, or other scientific domains.
• Experience developing and delivering AI workshops, tutorials, short courses, professional development programs, or microcredentials.
• Experience mentoring graduate or undergraduate students in research settings.
• Experience contributing to federal research proposals, sponsored research applications, and collaborative project reports.
• Familiarity with scalable computing environments, cloud platforms, high-performance computing, distributed AI systems, or large-scale data pipelines.
• Evidence of open-source software development, reproducible research practices, and successful interdisciplinary collaboration.
• Demonstrated record of scholarly productivity, including publications in reputable peer-reviewed journals and conference proceedings.

Department/Program & College Description

The Translational AI Center (TrAC) at Iowa State University is a multidisciplinary research and education center dedicated to developing artificial intelligence solutions for real-world challenges. TrAC brings together faculty, researchers, and students from across Iowa State University's colleges to advance innovative AI technologies and accelerate their translation into impactful applications across agriculture, engineering, manufacturing, cybersecurity, and other sectors. The center fosters collaborative, interdisciplinary research while emphasizing trustworthy, scalable, and socially responsible AI solutions.

Benefits

• Retirement benefits including defined benefit and defined contribution plans
• Generous vacation, holiday, and sick time and leave plans
• Onsite childcare (Ames, Iowa)
• Life insurance and long-term disability
• Flexible Spending Accounts
• Various voluntary benefits and discounts
• Employee Assistance Program
• Wellbeing program
• WorkFlex options for some positions (offers flexibility on when, where, and how you do your work; speak with the Hiring Manager for more information)