Faculty Position in Physical AI and Assured Autonomous Systems

Based on the foundation of the Ted and Karyn Hume Center for National Security and Technology, Virginia Tech launched the Virginia Tech National Security Institute in September 2021. With a presence in Blacksburg and the Washington, D.C., metro area, the institute aspires to be the nation’s preeminent academic organization at the nexus of interdisciplinary research, technology, policy, and talent development, the national security institute will advance national security in pursuit of a secure America.

Motivated Research Data Analyst applicants are sought to begin their careers in a beginning research position supporting rapid growth in VTNSI’s Intelligent Systems Division (ISD) which conducts research to address critical areas of national security in:

• Data science, machine learning, and artificial intelligence (AI)
• Cybersecurity and complex systems engineering
• Complex system validation and test and evaluation (T&E) ISD brings together researchers from computer science, statistics, data science, machine learning, networks, signals processing, systems engineering, human factors, and other fields to develop interdisciplinary solutions to cutting-edge technological challenges. Applicants should have hands-on experience with tools germane to their research area.

Responsibilities include:

• Performing exploratory data analysis, reporting summary statistics, and visualizing data.
• Performing literature reviews for relevant research areas.
• Designing numerical experiments.
• Training and testing AI/ML models.
• Compiling and summarizing AI/ML model testing results.
• Performing statistical analysis of data and test results.

The Research Data Analyst should be familiar with statistics and AI/ML concepts such as design of experiments, time series analysis, anomaly detection, natural language processing, large scale data infrastructure, or T&E. Tools that will be utilized by the Research Data Analyst include programming (R, Python, Matlab), JMP, and Jupyter Notebooks.

The successful applicant will work as part of team-based research efforts, support the development of research proposals, and develop skills to assist in the documentation and presentation of research results to sponsors and academic communities.

• US citizenship
• Ability to obtain and maintain a security clearance.
• An earned Master’s or Bachelor’s degree in computer science, computational modeling and data analytics, data science, applied mathematics, or related discipline or related programs.
• Demonstrated ability to work as a member of a team in executing research projects.

Preferred Qualifications

• Active security clearance.
• Interest and/or experience working effectively with an interdisciplinary team.
• Experience working in an academic environment.
• Experience executing on research and/or development programs supporting the federal government.