Research Associate: High Power Medium Voltage Power Electronics for Grid Applications - UTK

The Center for Electric Power within the Tickle College of Engineering is seeking a Research Associate. This position will lead a team of graduate students working on sponsored research projects in high power medium voltage power electronics for grid applications. The person will partner with other researchers and faculty by coordinating tasks and projects. Reporting to the project PI, the role independently conducts experiments and reports on the progress of projects, including analysis, simulation, experiments, reporting, and publications. This position is expected to generate research ideas and contribute to research proposals.

The position will lead the development of a power electronics based high power (> 1 MW) medium voltage (up to 13.8 kV) universal power tester needed for testing power equipment developed in sponsored projects. The responsibilities include: 

1. design, build and test the tester software and hardware to achieve the required performance; 

2. user guideline development and documentation for the tester; 

3. the software and hardware interface development of the universal power tester with the load or source under test; 

4. providing tasks to the graduates students and coordinating with faculty on the research project to conduct the system testing. 

The position will periodically update and report to the PI as well as will write reports and provide them to sponsors.  The role also includes writing and co-writing proposals and research publications as needed.

Required Qualifications

• Education: PhD in electrical engineering

• Experience: Two years of experience in power electronics research.

• Knowledge, Skills, Abilities: 

  • Excellent skills in high-power high-voltage power electronics design and lab testing

  • Skillful in PCB design and testing

  • Skillful in DSP and FPGA coding

  • Skillful in MATLAB and PSCAD simulation 

  • Demonstrated ability to provide oral and written presentations and clearly illustrate research results 

Applicants must be legally authorized to work in the United States on a full-time basis without need now or in the future for sponsorship for employment-based visa status.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience: Four years or more of experience in power electronics research

• Knowledge, Skills, Abilities: knowledge on cooling and mechanical system design or operation

Work Location 

• Location: Knoxville, Tennessee

• Onsite, Hybrid, or Remote – Onsite

Compensation and Benefits 

• UT market range: MR09

• Anticipated hiring range: $55,000 - $75,000

• Find more information on the UT Market Range structure here

• Find more information on UT Benefits here

Application Instructions

To express interest, please submit an application with the noted below attachments:

• Resume

• Cover Letter

About The College

The Tickle College of Engineering (TCE) is in the midst of an unprecedented period of growth and success, including adding over 30 new faculty to the college as part of ambitious hiring campaigns led by Chancellor Donde Plowman and Dean Matthew Mench. The college has set records in research expenditures, enrollment, incoming student GPA, diversity, intellectual property development, and USNWR rank in the past three years. New facilities include the state-of-the art Zeanah Engineering Complex, the University of Tennessee Manufacturing and Design Enterprise (TN-MADE) facility, and the Innovation South building now under construction that will house UTK’s Fibers and Composites Manufacturing Facility (FCMF).

EECS at UTK has 49 full-time T/TT faculty members, three members of the National Academy of Engineering, 15 IEEE Fellows, 13 NSF/DOE CAREER awardees, and 15 ranked in World’s Top 2% Scientists as compiled by Stanford. The department has a growing enrollment of more than 1000 undergraduate and 450 graduate students across the three majors of Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, and Computer Science. In addition, the department offers undergraduate minors in computer science, cybersecurity, datacenter technology and management, and machine learning. Successful faculty candidates will be expected to contribute to the continued growth and excellence of EECS.