Research Chemist - Autonomous Discovery of Organic Materials

AeroVironment has an opportunity for a Research Chemist as an integral member of the Polymers and Responsive Materials Team. Primary responsibilities include designing, synthesizing, and characterizing novel functional organic polymers and materials using advanced digital chemistry approaches. This involves parallelized or high-throughput experimentation, automated materials science, and data-driven optimization.

Utilize flow chemistry and robotic platforms with emphasis on integrating open-source hardware and advanced characterization techniques. These include automated spectroscopic methods like FTIR, UV-Vis, NMR, chromatographic techniques such as GPC, HPLC, and mechanical property analysis including tensile testing and rheology. Develop novel synthesis/test strategies for functional organic polymers and materials.

Implement high-throughput characterization techniques and apply AI/ML models with optimization algorithms to predict performance and optimize synthetic pathways. Work within a government facility requiring U.S. Citizenship and compliance as a U.S. person under ITAR. Collaborate on data-driven materials research in polymer chemistry and nanomaterials.

Incorporate a background in organic polymer synthesis, materials characterization, and machine learning to advance innovative, resilient materials. Build experimental hardware using open-source software and projects. Opportunity to apply Python programming, advanced data visualization, and learn new techniques.