Research Scientist - Texas Manufacturing Assistance Center

Department: Texas Manufacturing Assistance
CenterSalary: Commensurate with experience

Description:

The Cullen College of Engineering at the University of Houston
invites applications for a full-time, non-tenure track, Research
Scientist.

The Research Scientist conducts and leads applied research,
technology translation, and knowledge-transfer activities that move
university-developed and evidence-based engineering methods into
industrial practice. Working within the Texas Manufacturing
Assistance Center (TMAC) and under the direction of a faculty
Principal Investigator or Faculty Director, the Research Scientist
formulates technical questions arising from manufacturing
challenges; designs and executes applied investigations; analyzes
operational and experimental data; develops and validates
solutions; and disseminates findings through technical reports,
training, demonstrations, and direct implementation with small and
medium-sized manufacturers.

The position is supported by external sponsored funding whose
explicit purpose includes transferring knowledge and technology
from academia to industry. Administrative coordination, project
budgeting, stakeholder communication, and sponsor reporting are
performed in support of the research and technology-transfer
portfolio and are not the position's primary purpose.

Primary Research Domains:

• Manufacturing systems, industrial engineering, and production

optimization

• Digital manufacturing, automation, data analytics, and

artificial intelligence

• Product and process development, testing, validation, and

scale-up

• Technology adoption, innovation diffusion, and measurement of

economic and operational impact

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

• Leads applied research and technology-transfer projects

addressing complex manufacturing and engineering problems. Defines
research questions, technical objectives, methods, milestones, and
measures of success in collaboration with faculty investigators and
industry partners.

• Designs and conducts field-based studies, assessments,

experiments, pilots, and demonstrations involving manufacturing
processes, industrial systems, automation, data analytics,
artificial intelligence, product development, and related
engineering technologies.

• Collects, integrates, and analyzes quantitative and qualitative

data; interprets results; evaluates technical feasibility,
implementation risk, and operational impact; and develops
evidence-based findings and recommendations.

• Translates findings and advanced engineering knowledge into

deployable tools, prototypes, workflows, decision frameworks, and
implementation plans for small and medium-sized manufacturers.
Validates solutions in operational settings and refines methods
based on observed results.

• Develops technical reports, case studies, presentations,

training materials, and other research products for sponsors,
faculty collaborators, industry partners, and professional
audiences. Contributes to publications and conference presentations
when appropriate and permitted by sponsor and confidentiality
requirements.

• Serves as a technical liaison among university researchers,

students, external sponsors, manufacturers, and subject-matter
experts to identify relevant university capabilities and accelerate
responsible transfer of knowledge and technology to industry.

• Contributes technical content, preliminary data, scopes of

work, methods, evaluation plans, and impact projections to
proposals for grants, cooperative agreements, contracts, and other
externally sponsored research and technology-transfer
activities.

• Provides engineering and technical leadership to

interdisciplinary project teams. May guide research staff,
engineers, students, or external collaborators in research methods,
data quality, technical implementation, safety, and documentation;
does not exercise primary administrative supervision unless
separately assigned.

• Maintains current expertise in emerging manufacturing

technologies and research methods through literature review,
professional development, technical certification, collaboration,
and participation in scholarly and professional communities.

• Ensures research and technology-transfer activities comply with

sponsor requirements, university policies, applicable research
protocols, data-security obligations, export-control requirements,
intellectual-property provisions, and industry confidentiality
commitments.

• Tracks and evaluates research outputs and translational

outcomes, including technical performance, adoption, productivity,
cost savings, workforce effects, and other sponsor-defined
measures. Maintains documentation necessary for rigorous sponsor
reporting and reproducibility.

• Performs other research-related duties consistent with the

purpose and funding of the appointment.

Expected Allocation of Effort:

• Primary (60%) - Technical Analysis, engineering solution

development and deployment, validation, and technology
transfer

• Research Support (30%) - Engineering knowledge dissemination,

industry training, technical publications, and project
development

• Incidental/Supporting (10%) - Project documentation, budgets,

and compliance reporting

Required Qualifications:

• Master's degree in engineering, manufacturing, industrial

engineering, systems engineering, computer science, data science,
or a closely related discipline.

• Substantial directly related experience conducting applied

engineering research, developing or evaluating advanced
manufacturing solutions, and transferring technical knowledge into
operational environments.

• Demonstrated ability to formulate technical questions; select

appropriate research or evaluation methods; analyze complex data;
and develop, test, and communicate defensible conclusions
independently.

• Demonstrated ability to lead complex externally funded

technical projects involving university, sponsor, and industry
stakeholders.

• Strong written and oral communication skills, including

preparation of technical reports, sponsor deliverables, research
presentations, and practitioner-oriented training.

Preferred Qualifications:

• 5 or more years of directly related applied research,

manufacturing engineering, industrial technology, or
technology-transfer experience.

• Record of technical publications, patents, validated

implementations, industry case studies, externally funded projects,
or other evidence of research and translational impact.

• Experience with federal or state-sponsored programs supporting

manufacturing innovation, economic development, or
university-industry collaboration.

• Relevant professional licensure or technical certifications,

when applicable to the assigned research portfolio.

Independence and Complexity:

The position applies advanced, specialized knowledge to
nonstandard and complex problems for which established procedures
may be incomplete or unavailable. The Research Scientist exercises
substantial independent judgment in selecting methods, adapting
research designs to industrial settings, interpreting incomplete or
conflicting evidence, and recommending among technically viable
alternatives. Work is reviewed principally through achievement of
sponsored-project objectives, rigor of methods, quality of research
products, and documented translational impact.

Supervision and Collaboration:

The position receives programmatic direction from a faculty
Principal Investigator or Faculty Director. It may provide
scientific or functional direction to project personnel, students,
and collaborators but is not primarily responsible for
administrative staff management. The position collaborates
extensively with faculty, research personnel, sponsors,
manufacturers, and external technical experts.

Measures of Success:

• Rigor, technical quality, and timely completion of sponsored

research and technology-transfer deliverables

• Demonstrated adoption and validated technical or economic

impact of research-derived solutions

• Quality and usefulness of datasets, methods, technical reports,

tools, prototypes, training, and dissemination products

• Contribution to externally sponsored proposals, continuation

funding, and university-industry research partnerships

• Compliance with sponsor, research, intellectual-property,

data-security, and university requirements

Appointment and Funding Statement:

This is a non-tenure-track, non-promotion-eligible Research
Scientist appointment. Continuation is contingent upon satisfactory
performance, continuing programmatic need, and availability of
external sponsored funding. The appointment does not create an
expectation of tenure, promotion, or renewal beyond the stated
appointment term.

Employees are expected to have a home address in the state of
Texas for the duration of their appointments.

Official transcripts are required for a faculty appointment and
will be requested upon selection of the final candidates.

All positions at the University of Houston-System are security
sensitive and will require a criminal history check. Individuals
conducting research in critical infrastructure areas (i.e.,
communication infrastructure systems, cybersecurity systems,
electric grid, hazardous waste treatment systems, and/or water
treatment facilities) are subject to regular review to ensure the
security and integrity of the research is maintained.

The University of Houston System and its universities are Equal
Opportunity Institutions. Everyone is encouraged to apply