Research Scientist/Engineer 2

The Civil and Environmental Engineering Department has an outstanding opportunity for a Research Scientist/Engineer 2 to join their team.   

Reporting to the Research Scientist/Engineer 3, The Research Scientist/Engineer 2 will hold the position of Site Operations Engineer within the NHERI Rapid Facility. The selected candidate will join the RAPID technical staff supporting researchers in deploying tools related to collecting perishable data to support natural hazards engineering research. 

Key Responsibilities 

Equipment Maintenance (25%) 

- Operate, maintain, and calibrate facility equipment. 

- Inspection and testing of equipment prior to and following deployments. 

- Track operational status of facility equipment (e.g., iPads, Laptops) and resources (e.g., on-site computing) 

- Share equipment, software, and computing maintenance and troubleshooting with other RAPID personnel. 

- Have an equal part (with other RAPID staff) in maintaining the effectiveness, organization, and professional appearance of the RAPID facilities laboratory spaces (More Hall 016, 016a, 020) and HQ (116). 

Project Management, Logistics and Deployment (30%) 

- Independently move assigned projects forward from scoping through implementation, and clearly communicate progress, blockers, and support needs. 

- In coordination with the Site Operations Manager and other Research Scientists, act as a point of contact for facility users to initiate projects, determine scope and resource needs, and carry projects to completion. 

- Assist other Facility staff with in communicating with external users interested in using Rapid Facility resources, focusing on users interested in collecting natural hazards engineering data. 

- Assist other Research Scientists coordinating external NSF and NIH-funded PI’s projects; determine scope and resource needs, assist users in the development of proposals and research questions, refine field methods, scheduling, and logistics. 

- Establish logistical and field protocols to ensure safe and timely deployment of facility personnel and resources. 

- Arrange personnel travel logistics for RAPID deployments as needed. 

- Coordinate equipment shipping, asset tracking, and retrieval for RAPID deployments as needed. 

- Deploy with users during field data collection to provide assistance or take the lead as needed. 

- Lead perishable data collection efforts or assist with equipment use in collaboration with external research teams during field deployments after natural hazard events. 

Training on RAPID Equipment (15%) 

- Gain proficiency on RAPID equipment in collaboration with expert data collection practitioners and equipment manufacturers. 

- Assist with quality assurance measures for data collection processes to ensure accuracy and reliability. 

- Maintain appropriate qualifications and credentials (e.g., FAA Part-107 UAV Pilots license). 

- Remain knowledgeable of emerging technologies and methodologies in data collection and natural hazards engineering and integrate them into operations where appropriate. 

- Develop standard operating procedures for various RAPID equipment. 

Training of Other RAPID Staff (5%) 

- Instruct other RAPID personnel on natural hazards field reconnaissance, including field safety, logistics, and geospatial data collection. 

Facility Management (5%) 

- Share equipment, software, and computing maintenance and troubleshooting with other RAPID personnel. 

- Contribute equally (with other RAPID staff) to the upkeep, organization, and professional presentation of RAPID facility laboratory spaces in More Hall (More Hall 016, 016a, 020, 319), HQ (116), and any newly acquired spaces. 

- Generate reports summarizing data collection activities, findings, and recommendations for internal and external stakeholders. 

- Maintain accurate and organized documentation of equipment inventory, maintenance logs, and other relevant records. 

Data Processing and Management (15%) 

- Assist facility staff with data management, focused on environmental and public health data, including archiving data to DesignSafe consistent with the RAPID Facility’s Data Management Plan.  

- Maintain an operational knowledge of RAPID data and post-processing software. 

- Manage RAPID Facility data; including downloading from equipment, quality control, storage, archiving, curation, and publishing. 

- Develop data processing workflows. 

- Process and analyze data from RAPID deployments as needed, with a focus on lidar and structure from motion processing. 

- Provide user support for data processing and archival as needed. 

- Maintain an operational knowledge of RAPID data and post-processing software. 

Outreach and Education (5%) 

- Represent the RAPID Facility at international professional and academic conferences. 

- Develop user training workshop curriculum focused on geomatics and engineering data collection.  

- Collaborate with the leadership team on developing modules for all RAPID workshops focused on geomatics data collection and processing. 

- Develop user training media focused on geomatics data collection and processing. 

- Generate tutorials on RAPID equipment, software, and data analysis for facility users. 

Required Qualifications 

 To be considered for this opportunity, your application must demonstrate you met both the minimum qualifications and additional qualifications listed below.  Equivalent education and/or experience may substitute for minimum qualifications except when there are legal requirements, such as license, certification, and/or registration. 

Minimum Qualifications 

•  Bachelor’s degree in civil (geotechnical, structural, etc) engineering, geomatics or similar and two years of experience working with a technical research laboratory or field research environment. 

• Applicants who do not meet these qualifications WILL NOT be forwarded to the Hiring Manager.

Additional Qualifications

• Significant knowledge, skills and abilities are required in at least one of the following: surveying/geomatics engineering, acquiring and processing lidar data, GPS\GNSS acquisition and processing, operating uncrewed aerial vehicles and collecting geospatially located image data for use in structure from motion photogrammetry.  

• Experience with field data collection, and will be willing and able to develop skills and abilities in the other areas. -Knowledge of basic programming\scripting skills.  

• Able to demonstrate a history of collaborative research interaction and have strong interpersonal skills.  

• Willing to travel to natural hazard locations following event. 

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in some of the following areas: geotechnical field investigation techniques (e.g., CPT, MASW, etc.), storm surge and coastal damage data collection (wave gauges and acoustic sensors), social science data collection, data visualization, coding and script writing to support data processing and instrument control, and project management.  

• Experience interacting with: engineers and scientists, professors, equipment vendors, machine shop personnel to support fabrication, emergency management personnel, and with interdisciplinary teams is desired. 

 About the Team 

The Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering is an academic department within the College of Engineering with over $30M in annual expenditures. The department maintains an internationally recognized research program with six research areas, numerous academic programs, and multiple research and testing laboratories spread across five different buildings.  

The department serves over 800 students annually, and grants bachelors, masters, and PhD degrees. As of January 2026, the department has 35 faculty, 11 postdoctoral scholars, and 45 staff.