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Boston University

Postdoctoral Research Associate in Autonomous Science, Robotic AI Orchestration, and Materials Science Boston University in United States

Degree Level

Postdoc

Field of study

Computer Science

Funding

Full-time postdoctoral research associate appointment with an initial 1-year term, renewable. No stipend or salary amount is stated.

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Country

United States

University

Boston University

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Keywords

Computer Science
Chemistry
Systems Engineering
Mechanical Engineering
Electrical Engineering
Chemical Engineering
Materials Science
Polymer Engineering
Automation
Reinforcement Learning
Robotics
Large Language Models

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About this position

Boston University is advertising a Postdoctoral Research Associate position in the Division of Materials Science & Engineering and the Division of Systems Engineering in Boston, Massachusetts, United States.

This interdisciplinary role sits at the intersection of autonomous science, robotic AI orchestration, large language models, reinforcement learning, lab automation, and materials/polymer science. The successful candidate will act as a bridge between an AI group working on systems, control, optimization, LLM training, domain adaptation, instruction tuning, agentic orchestration, and RL, and an automation group building robotic systems for high-throughput synthesis, processing, and characterization.

The postdoc will translate computational ideas into automated lab execution, help structure polymer science workflows for AI planning, and collaborate on closed-loop systems that connect software interfaces (APIs/ROS) with liquid handlers, analytical instruments, and polymer processing modules. The role also includes research leadership, mentoring Ph.D. and Master’s students, publishing in top venues, and contributing to grant proposals.

Eligibility highlights: Ph.D. in Computer Science, Robotics, Systems Engineering, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Materials Science & Engineering, Chemistry, or a related quantitative discipline. The post emphasizes curiosity, willingness to learn across domains, and mentoring ability. Desired technical experience includes LLM/agent frameworks (e.g., LangChain/LangGraph, AutoGen, CrewAI, Hugging Face ecosystem, MCP), instruction tuning, RL, Bayesian optimization/active learning, Python/PyTorch, lab automation, ROS/ROS2, and chemistry/materials characterization workflows.

Funding/appointment: Full-time postdoctoral appointment with an initial 1-year term, renewable. No salary amount is listed.

How to apply: Submit a CV and cover letter including the names of three references via Academic Jobs Online. Review is rolling until the position is filled.

Funding details

Full-time postdoctoral research associate appointment with an initial 1-year term, renewable. No stipend or salary amount is stated.

What's required

Ph.D. in Computer Science, Robotics, Systems Engineering, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Materials Science & Engineering, Chemistry, or a related quantitative scientific discipline. Applicants should have broad technical curiosity, willingness to learn across AI and robotics domains, and demonstrated capacity or strong desire to mentor graduate students. Desired experience includes LLM/agent frameworks, instruction tuning, reinforcement learning, multi-objective optimization or active learning/Bayesian optimization, strong Python/PyTorch programming, lab automation or automated liquid handling, hardware control interfaces such as APIs, serial communications, ROS/ROS2, microservices, and familiarity with chemistry/characterization or automated materials screening workflows.

How to apply

Submit a CV and a cover letter including the names of three references through Academic Jobs Online. Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis until the position is filled.

More information can be found here

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