Postdoctoral Appointee- Life Cycle Analysis

Argonne National Laboratory is seeking dynamic Postdoctoral Researchers with technical expertise in the area of Life Cycle Analysis (LCA). The Systems Assessment Center at Argonne National Laboratory continues a 30-year history of leadership in the field of Life Cycle Analysis. Postdoctoral Researchers will join project teams including experts in a variety of topics relevant to their work and will regularly collaborate with experts from Argonne, industry and at other national laboratories. The Systems Assessment Center develops and maintains the Greenhouse gases, Regulated Emissions, and Energy use in Transportation (GREET®) model, which is widely used by government, industry, and academic stakeholders to provide objective and credible LCA results (see https://greet.anl.gov/). Results from the Postdoctoral Researchers' work may be incorporated in the annual GREET updates.
Postdoctoral Researchers collect and synthesize information to conduct LCA studies in the GREET modeling platform, manipulate large datasets to extract meaningful information, communicate results through well-designed presentations, publish findings in refereed journal articles and reports, and present results at conferences, workshops, and project meetings. The Electrification and Infrastructure Group supports the U.S. Department of Energy and other funding agencies to assess the energy and environmental impacts associated with electricity, infrastructure, vehicles, and integrated systems in order to guide R&D efforts, identify key drivers and improvement opportunities, and create new approaches for LCA/sustainability analysis to address emerging issues.
A Postdoctoral Appointment is now available within Argonne's Energy Systems and Infrastructure Analysis Division (ESIA), working with the Systems Assessment Center for a candidate with expertise and experience in Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) to apply to decarbonization technologies, such as batteries, fuel cells, and electrolyzers. The candidate should have a good understanding of the material sources and production processes of materials used in these technologies. A good knowledge of chemicals production processes, and/or mining and metallurgy will also be beneficial. The candidate should be familiar with databases, tools, and methodologies relevant to process modeling and LCA. The successful candidate will 1) collect data from open literature and other data sources pertaining to manufacturing of technologies such as batteries, fuel cells, and electrolyzers, production of materials for these technologies, data may be also collected through communications with industries, government agencies, and other collaborators; 2) analyze collected data for Argonne's LCA tool, the GREET model (https://greet.anl.gov/), to estimate the associated environmental impacts of these production activities; 3) write reports and journal articles and present at conferences and workshops to document research findings; and 4) provide analytical support to the Systems Assessment Center on materials production and manufacturing technologies for broad LCA of a variety of energy technologies.
Position Requirements

• A recent (0-2 years) Ph.D. Degree in chemical engineering, materials science, industrial engineering, or related fields.
• Knowledge of Python, JavaScript, Microsoft Excel and other computer programming skills.
• Knowledge of process modeling and Life Cycle Analysis.
• Knowledge of supply chains of critical materials and minerals such as lithium, cobalt, copper, magnesium, nickel, platinum, zinc, etc.
• Experience developing, manipulating, and analyzing large data sets.
• Understanding of decarbonization technologies and their supply chains.
• Experience working with Argonne's GREET model and BatPaC battery cost model.
• Knowledge of Aspen Plus or other chemical engineering models.
• Ability to work well within a team of experts in various areas of expertise.
• Skilled in oral and written communications with peers, colleagues, and collaborators.
• A successful candidate must have the ability to model Argonne's Core Values: Impact, Safety, Respect, Integrity, and Teamwork.

Job Family
Postdoctoral Family
Job Profile
Postdoctoral Appointee
Worker Type
Long-Term (Fixed Term)
Time Type
Full time
As an equal employment opportunity and affirmative action employer, and in accordance with our core values of impact, safety, respect, integrity and teamwork, Argonne National Laboratory is committed to a diverse and inclusive workplace that fosters collaborative scientific discovery and innovation. In support of this commitment, Argonne encourages minorities, women, veterans and individuals with disabilities to apply for employment. Argonne considers all qualified applicants for employment without regard to age, ancestry, citizenship status, color, disability, gender, gender identity, gender expression, genetic information, marital status, national origin, pregnancy, race, religion, sexual orientation, veteran status or any other characteristic protected by law.
Argonne employees, and certain guest researchers and contractors, are subject to particular restrictions related to participation in Foreign Government Sponsored or Affiliated Activities, as defined and detailed in United States Department of Energy Order 486.1A. You will be asked to disclose any such participation in the application phase for review by Argonne's Legal Department.
All Argonne offers of employment are contingent upon a background check that includes an assessment of criminal conviction history conducted on an individualized and case-by-case basis. Please be advised that Argonne positions require upon hire (or may require in the future) for the individual be to obtain a government access authorization that involves additional background check requirements. Failure to obtain or maintain such government access authorization could result in the withdrawal of a job offer or future termination of employment.