Postdoctoral Research Associate (Vokkarane Lab) - Electrical & Computer Engineering

General Summary of Position:

The successful applicant will lead technical research, development, and integration for the NSF MRI Track 2 SUMMIT project (Development of a Secure and Resilient Multi-site Smart Grid Testbed for Multidisciplinary Research and Training). Working with the Principal Investigator and teams at UMass Lowell, New York University, and West Virginia University, the Postdoctoral Research Associate will lead cross-site integration, federation development, hardware-in-the-loop experimentation, resilient networking and cybersecurity integration, and distributed digital-twin coordination, while contributing to project reports, scholarly publications, proposals, and student mentoring.

The Center for Smart Cyber-Physical Systems (SCyPS) works to facilitate interdisciplinary research to develop high-impact, practical solutions to the challenges we currently face as these complex systems continue to integrate computation and physical processes. By enhancing capabilities, protecting data and evaluating and optimizing technologies, SCyPS will support a connected, smart yet resilient society. UMass Lowell Center for Smart Cyber-Physical Systems

Essential Job Duties:

1. Lead research, development, and cross-site integration for the SUMMIT platform. This specifically involves:
   • Lead day-to-day development of the open federated hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) simulation platform connecting UML, NYU, and WVU.
   • Integrate and validate real-time power-grid simulation, control, monitoring, networking, cybersecurity, and time-synchronization components, including RTDS/OPAL-RT resources and software-defined networking.
   • Develop and execute distributed-HIL, Internet-in-the-loop, heterogeneous digital-twin, and cyber-resilience experiments.
   • Implement and validate standardized site interfaces, secure inter-site connectivity, monitoring/telemetry, fail-over, rollback, and fault-recovery mechanisms.
   • Measure and analyze latency, throughput, timing alignment, fault recovery, and simulation fidelity against project performance targets.
   • Maintain reproducible software, configuration, experiment documentation, and technical deliverables; ensure milestones are completed on time and to a high standard. 60 %
2. Project coordination and research operations.
   • Serve as a technical liaison among the PI, site leads, institutional IT liaisons, research staff, and collaborating partners. Coordinate cross-site integration schedules, testing activities, technical documentation, risk mitigation, interface change control, and preparation of project status reports and deliverables. 15%
3. Assist supervisor in writing scholarly articles, technical reports, and proposals for grant funding. The successful candidate will be expected to lead and assist in the formulation and writing of externally funded research proposals, including identifying appropriate opportunities and collaborators, generating preliminary results, and contributing technical content. The successful candidate will be expected to lead peer-reviewed publications based on the research conducted, with a goal of at least one first-author article per year, and to participate in conference papers, presentations, datasets, demonstrations, and other project dissemination activities. 15 %
4. Attend and support meetings related to the research project.
   • Participate in regular project meetings, cross-site integration calls, milestone/risk reviews, and meetings with external collaborators and users; present technical progress and action items as assigned. 5%
5. Mentoring of graduate and undergraduate researchers.
   • Provide day-to-day technical guidance to doctoral and undergraduate researchers; review research plans, software, experiments, results, papers, and progress toward project milestones. 5%

Promote the University's commitment to customer service by:

• Building effective partnerships with co-workers throughout the University by freely sharing appropriate information and providing assistance when needed.
• Ensure optimum service to all internal and external partners in response to requests for service and information.
• Maintain an environment that is welcoming to persons of all backgrounds, nationalities, and roles.

Minimum Qualifications (Required):

• PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, Power/Energy Systems, or a closely related field.
• Research experience, including work completed during the PhD, in one or more of the following areas: smart grids/power systems, cyber-physical systems, computer networking/SDN, cybersecurity, distributed systems/digital twins, or real-time/HIL simulation.
• Experience developing, integrating, or validating experimental platforms/testbeds and conducting quantitative performance evaluation.
• Experience collaborating across technical disciplines and producing research documentation, peer-reviewed publications, or technical presentations.
• Strong programming/scripting, analytical, debugging, and software/hardware integration skills.
• Ability to design reproducible experiments and analyze metrics such as latency, throughput, synchronization accuracy, fault recovery, and simulation fidelity.
• Ability to work independently with limited direction and to lead day-to-day technical integration within a multidisciplinary, multi-institution team.
• Strong technical report writing, scholarly writing, presentation, and communication skills.
• Strong quantitative research methods and data-analysis skills.

Other Job Duties:

• Performs other related duties as assigned.

Additional Considerations:

• Demonstrated publication record with at least one peer-reviewed publication in a relevant field.
• Hands-on experience with one or more of the following is preferred: RTDS or OPAL-RT; hardware-in-the-loop simulation; SDN and network monitoring; grid-control/monitoring protocols such as IEEE C37.118, IEC 61850, DNP3, or IEEE 2030.5; GPS/PTP/IRIG-B timing; cybersecurity experimentation; or distributed digital twins.
• Ability to mentor and inspire graduate and undergraduate researchers with varying levels of research experience.
• Experience contributing to externally funded research projects, proposal development, shared research infrastructure, or external-user support is desirable.

Special Instructions to Applicants:

Only current UML Employees within the Grants & Contracts (MTA/GRACE) bargaining unit will be considered during the first 10 business days of the posting. All other candidates will be considered after that period.

This position is full-time, benefited and in the Grants & Contracts union in Grade PD. Anticipated salary based on qualifications within the range with minimum: $50,000, 25th quartile: $56,500 and midpoint: $63,000.

This position is contingent upon funding. The initial appointment will be for one year, with anticipated renewal for up to three years total, based on productivity and performance and the availability of funding.

Review of applications will begin immediately and continue until the position is filled; however, the posting may close when an adequate number of qualified applications is received.

Please include a resume, cover letter, publication list and research statement with your application. Names and contact information of three references will be required during the application process. Submission of a research interest, publications in peer-reviewed journals, research publications and sample of scholarly work/publication is optional.