"Research Associate-Fixed Term"

Position Summary

The Department of Mechanical Engineering at Michigan State University has an opening for a postdoctoral research associate with an anticipated start date in Spring 2026 in the area of experimental studies of gas-cooled plasma-facing components in fusion technology under the direction of Dr. Minami Yoda. The primary responsibilities of the position will be to reassemble and upgrade a high-pressure and high-temperature helium flow loop (maximum flowrate 100 g/s) and use this facility to study helium-cooled tungsten divertor concepts at nearly prototypical temperatures (maximum 450 °C) and prototypical pressures (about 10 MPa). Applicants must have a doctoral degree in mechanical engineering or a related field, an outstanding academic record, and the ability to supervise external contractors and work with Ph.D. students.

Required Degree

Doctorate -Mechanical or Aerospace Engineering or closely related

Minimum Requirements

• Ph.D. in Mechanical or Aerospace Engineering or a related field

Desired Qualifications

• An outstanding academic record and the ability to both supervise external contractors and work with Ph.D. students.
• In addition, experience with and working knowledge of most, if not all, of the following topics:
  • Fundamental knowledge of fluid mechanics and heat transfer
  • Hands-on experience designing, building, and debugging experimental facilities for studying pressurized and heated gas flows
  • Design and implementation of experiments in high-temperature gas flows, including safety considerations
  • Using and developing data acquisition and signal processing software (LabVIEW, MATLAB, etc.), mainly for temperature and pressure data.
  • Some familiarity with magnetic fusion energy

Required Application Materials

Cover letter describing their background and interest in the position; CV; names of two references

Website

me.msu.edu