The Center for Energy, Environmental, and Economic Systems Analysis (CEEESA) has an opening for a postdoctoral appointee to develop models and conduct analysis of circular manufacturing supply chains in the United States.  The focus will be on plastics and energy materials.

The plastics analysis will explore various recycling, upcycling, and other end-of-life pathways for their infrastructure needs, economic impacts, and life cycle environmental and social impacts to inform technology investments needed to achieve EPA’s 2050 material circularity goals.  The energy materials analysis will focus on critical minerals recovery and recycling from clean energy technologies including electric vehicle batteries, wind turbines, and solar photovoltaics. The research will build on existing logistics optimization tools and datasets developed at Argonne National Laboratory and would involve significant collaboration with researchers from other Department of Energy Nationals Laboratories.

The candidate should ideally have experience with supply chain modeling and analysis and be familiar with the application of operations research methods such optimization and agent-based modeling to problems in environmental sustainability. Experience or familiarity with techno-economic analysis and life cycle analysis is desirable. The candidate must demonstrate the ability for convergent thinking and systems analysis that draws from a variety of fields such as engineering, economics, and sustainability sciences. The candidate will receive a supportive and enabling environment to develop research projects, grow research collaborations, communicate impactful research outcomes in peer-reviewed journals, and support other related projects within the team’s portfolio.

Position Requirements

• PhD in industrial, mechanical, or chemical engineering, operations research, sustainability sciences or any relevant engineering or sciences field.

• Experience with manufacturing supply chain analysis and optimization.

• Familiarity with logistics optimization, agent-based modeling, statistics, and other operations research methods.

• Skilled oral and written communication skills at all levels of the organization.

• A successful candidate must be able to model Argonne’s Core Values: Impact, Safety, Respect, Integrity, and Teamwork. 

Preferred Qualifications:

• Familiarity with waste management practices and regulations in the United States.

• Familiarity with plastics manufacturing and recycling technologies.

• Experience with techno-economic and life cycle analysis.

• Ability to develop and synthesize visualizations to effectively communicate analysis results.

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