3 PhD’s in metamaterial design and development in the METRAMAT project

Are you interested in working in a research consortium with esteemed partners from both academia and industry?
Are you inspired to push the boundaries of design principles in high-end technology applications?
Are you fascinated by the potential of metamaterials to outperform conventional materials?

Join the METRAMAT project, a MSCA European Doctoral Network aimed at training young researchers to become skilled in metamaterial development by researching and creating a combined set of design, simulation, manufacturing, testing, reliability assessment and integration tools that will strengthen the European manufacturing industry and lead to a sustainable society.

Job Description

The European manufacturing industry, crucial for economic competitiveness, faces challenges pushing the limits of traditional materials, particularly in high-tech sectors like lithography and micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS). Metamaterials, built up from rationally, pre-designed architected substructures, hold the promise to outperform conventional materials and redefine the boundaries of industrial design practices, which can drive the much-needed transformational changes in European manufacturing industry.

METRAMAT aims to train 10 researchers in metamaterial development, of which 3 at the TU/e. The involvement of MEMS, lithography and additive manufacturing industries ensures that the scientific training is tuned to existing industrial challenges requiring new fundamental solutions, such as positioning accuracy, sensor sensitivity or shielding of external vibrational disturbances, with emphasis on design for manufacturability and reliability. Together with the transferable skills training, secondments and networking opportunities, this program will provide a solid foundation for a successful career in either industry or academia.

Position DC1: For this position, you will focus on modelling, design, and optimization of metamaterials with tunable mechanical properties. You will develop modelling techniques for rational design and optimization of new metamaterial unit cells with switchable mechanical properties, using multiphysics modelling and topology or shape optimization tools. The main focus will be on relation between static and dynamic properties, such as effective stiffness and changes in anisotropy, leading to switchable directional band gaps or adjustable directionality in wave propagation and vibration control. You will also spend some time at our partner organizations during planned secondments at NTNU (NO), Politecnico di Milano (IT) and Additive Industries (NL).

Position DC4: For this position, you will focus on design and modelling techniques for metamaterials based on emergent non-linear phenomena. You will investigate non-linear phenomena exploitable for metamaterial design for 3D meta-MEMS, analyze suitability of the amplitude dependent energy exchange between propagating and evanescent waves for potential design of a sensor or actuator and develop efficient modelling and analysis techniques for non-linear metamaterials going beyond the direct fully resolved time domain simulations. You will also spend some time abroad during the planned secondments at Georgia Institute of Technology (USA), Politecnico di Milano (IT) and STMicroelectronics (IT).

Position DC9: For this position, you will focus on simulation methodologies for metamaterial integration at the system level. You will develop efficient computational techniques to enable simulations for metamaterial integration into (existing) components or systems, which imposes constraints on the finite size and shape of metamaterial domain, and requires taking into account the effects of boundaries and interfaces to other system components. You will also spend some time at our partner organizations during planned secondments at KU Leuven (BE) and ASML (NL).

More information on the METRAMAT project and other METRAMAT DC positions, both at TU/e and at partner institutions, can be found on the METRAMAT website: http://metramat.eu/recruitment

Requirements:

• A master's degree (or an equivalent university degree) in Mechanical Engineering, Applied Mathematics, Physics or similar. If the master's degree is not yet completed, it needs to be obtained at the latest within one month from the date of application by the candidate.
• A research-oriented attitude, with excellent analytical, numerical, and experimental skills.
• Ability to work in a team and interested in collaborating with other researchers and industrial partners.
• Fluent in spoken and written English.
• A strong interest in computational mechanics and multi-scale material modelling
• Experience with computational and/or experimental multi-physics (electro-magneto-mechanical) analysis (DC1), non-linear dynamics (DC4) or vibro-acoustics (DC9) is preferred

Salary Benefits:

A meaningful job in a dynamic and ambitious university, in an interdisciplinary setting and within an international network. You will work on a beautiful, green campus within walking distance of the central train station. In addition, we offer you:

• Full-time employment for four years, with an intermediate evaluation (go/no-go) after nine months. You will spend 10% of your employment on teaching tasks.
• Salary and benefits (such as a pension scheme, paid pregnancy and maternity leave, partially paid parental leave) in accordance with the Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities, scale P (min. €2,770 max. €3,539).
• A year-end bonus of 8.3% and annual vacation pay of 8%.
• High-quality training programs and other support to grow into a self-aware, autonomous scientific researcher. At TU/e we challenge you to take charge of your own learning process.
• An excellent technical infrastructure, on-campus children's day care and sports facilities.
• An allowance for commuting, working from home and internet costs.
• A Staff Immigration Team and a tax compensation scheme (the 30% facility) for international candidates.

Eligibility

• Recruited researchers can be of any nationality and must comply with the following mobility rule: they must not have resided or carried out their main activity (work, studies, etc.) in the Netherlands for more than 12 months in the 36 months immediately before their recruitment date. Compulsory national service, short stays such as holidays and time spent as part of a procedure for obtaining refugee status under the Geneva Convention are not considered.
• The recruited researchers must be doctoral candidates, i.e. not already in possession of a doctoral degree at the date of the recruitment.
• The recruited researchers must be employed full-time (granting authority may approve a part-time employment for personal or family reasons).
• The recruited researchers must be working exclusively for the project.

38 hours per week

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