Radar and Optics Applications Staff Assistant

As a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science national laboratory, ORNL has an 80-year legacy of addressing the nation’s most pressing challenges. Our team of over 7,000 individuals fosters an environment where diverse perspectives and backgrounds are valued, supporting our mission to drive scientific breakthroughs and translate them into solutions for energy, environmental, and security challenges.

The Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) conducts research, development, and deployment of radar and optics technologies to address national security and global challenges. Capabilities include radar and optics technologies, RF communications, computational imaging, AI/ML, neuromorphic sensing, video super-resolution, electromagnetics, real-time systems, data mining, high-performance computing, cybersecurity, signal processing, and software development. Activities involve interdisciplinary research with multiple ORNL groups, collaborations with private industry and academic partners, and mission-specific support for national security sponsors.

Responsibilities

• Support research staff on projects and provide technical engineering support, technology assessments, engineering analysis, studies, design reviews, and specifications development for upgrading existing radar and optical tracking systems and developing new systems for the DOE and other government agencies.
• Assist in the development and prototyping of radar and optical tracking systems, neuromorphic sensor systems, radar transponders, and advanced sensor fusion technologies.
• Apply AI/ML to improve detection and identification of radar and optical tracking systems.
• Execute radar and optics systems performance tests and analyze results to influence strategic national security decisions.
• Develop innovative solutions for radar and optics challenges and collaborate with team members on technical demonstrations, proposals, oral presentations, and publications.
• Align behaviors, priorities, and interactions with ORNL’s core values: Impact, Integrity, Teamwork, Safety, and Service.
• Promote equal opportunity by fostering a respectful workplace.

Requirements

• BS, MS, or PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering, Computer Science, Mathematics, or a related science field.
• Proven experience in radar and optics applications.
• Excellent communication skills for conveying technical material to both scientists and non-scientists.
• Self-disciplined work ethic and eagerness to tackle challenging research problems.
• Strong desire to work in a team environment.
• Ability to obtain a security clearance, including a Sensitive Compartmented Information (SCI) clearance from the Department of Energy.
• Pass a pre-placement drug test and participate in an ongoing random drug testing program (Workplace Substance Abuse Program).
• May be subject to random polygraph testing due to SCI requirements.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with prototyping RF electronics in a lab environment.
• Experience with AI/ML.
• Experience with RF signature recognition and classification algorithms.
• Experience with Computational Imaging and Image Reconstruction techniques.