ENGINEER - RESEARCH ENGINEER - Computational Materials Integrity
Southwest Research Institute

Who We Are:

We develop and apply advanced computational methods to investigate the performance of a variety of engineering materials that are used in a wide range of applications, especially estimating the life and reliability of high-consequence engineering systems.

Objectives of this Role:

• Perform fundamental and applied research through the development of advanced material and structural reliability assessments.
• Participate in individual and collaborative research projects that deal with applications in aerospace, space, engine, military, and manufacturing sectors.
• Apply principles in advanced engineering mechanics, materials science, uncertainty quantification, and applied mathematics to solve unique problems.
• Learn business development skills to support contract research programs.
• Interact with commercial and government clients.

Daily and Monthly Responsibilities:

• Build workflows that establish metallic structure-to-property relationships (e.g., fatigue crack growth rates) from EBSD data, crystal plasticity simulations, micromechanics, and other methods.
• Develop tools and solve problems at the intersection of mechanics and materials science using physics-based numerical techniques and bespoke AI/ML/ICME approaches.
• Develop, test, implement, and integrate numerical algorithms for structural integrity, life prediction, and uncertainty quantification.
• Ensure accuracy, precision, and consistency of predictions implemented within high-criticality software.
• Write reports to document results and to provide guidance.
• Communicate effectively with colleagues, collaborators, and customers.
• Prepare proposals, reports, and technical papers.
• Manage tasks and projects to completion within scope, budget, and schedule constraints within a team environment.

Requirements:

• Requires a Masters or a PhD in Mechanical Engineering, Materials Science Engineering, Theoretical and Applied Engineering Mechanics, Structural Engineering, or similar engineering degree.
• 0-5 years: Must have experience and/or training in fatigue, finite element analysis, continuum mechanics, probabilistic methods, materials science, automation, and computer science.
• 0-5 years: Must have experience solving problems related to structural integrity at the component scale. Experience with ABAQUS, Fortran, Python, and formal software development processes is desirable.
• 0-5 years: Must have experience with recent computational integrity techniques in materials science including crystal plasticity, fatigue crack growth mechanisms, representative volume element reconstruction, and physics informed AI/ML.
• 0-5 years: Experience with recent advances is computational mechanics targeted towards structural applications is desirable, including contact algorithms, constitutive modeling, multi-physics, meshing algorithms, enriched methods, and automatic crack growth.
• A valid/clear driver's license is required.

Special Requirements:

Job Locations: San Antonio, Texas

For more information about this division, visit the Mechanical Engineering home page.

For benefits information at our San Antonio location, click here.
For benefits information at all other locations, click here.

An Equal Employment Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer
Race/Color/Religion/Sex/Sexual Orientation/Gender Identity/National Origin/Disabled/Veteran
Committed to Diversity in the Workplace

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