NASA Postdoctoral Program Opportunities

• U.S. Citizens Accepted
• Lawful Permanent Residents Accepted

We leverage multi-scale computational materials modeling techniques to inform materials and technology development, particularly for high-temperature applications. For this opportunity, we are interested in using molecular modeling approaches, including molecular dynamics simulations and ab initio calculations, to investigate aerospace polymers and composites for several applications. For example, in one project, molecular modeling will be used to calculate material properties of resins and fibers in thermal protection materials in entry systems to inform modeling at higher length scales. In another project, molecular modeling will be used to elucidate chemical processes occurring during laser surface treatment of carbon fiber reinforced polymer composites. We work in interdisciplinary teams to integrate various computational approaches and collaborate closely with experimentalists to address real-world engineering applications. As we work in a unique application space, we regularly develop new methods and tools to supplement available in-house, open-source, and commercial tools, and leverage NASA's high performance computing resources for large-scale simulations.