Senior Staff Scientist

1 week ago

Ottawa, Ontario, Canada InsideHigherEd Full time
Senior Staff Scientist (Organic Synthesis)

Description:

The Acceleration Consortium (AC) at the University of Toronto (U of T) is leading a groundbreaking shift in scientific discovery to speed up technology development and commercialization. The AC is a global community of academia, industry, and government leveraging artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, materials sciences, and high-throughput chemistry to create self-driving laboratories (SDLs), also known as materials acceleration platforms (MAPs). These autonomous labs swiftly design materials and molecules needed for a sustainable, healthy, and resilient future, with applications ranging from renewable energy and consumer electronics to drugs. AC Senior Staff Scientists will push forward the field of AI-driven autonomous discovery and develop the materials and molecules required to tackle society's biggest challenges, such as climate change, water pollution, and future pandemics.

The Acceleration Consortium (AC) fosters an inclusive research environment and backs the EDI priorities of the unit.

Hiring is happening on a rolling basis. Please take action promptly without waiting for the job closing date.

The Acceleration Consortium secured a substantial Canadian First Research Excellence Grant for seven years to build self-driving labs for chemistry and materials, the largest grant ever awarded to a Canadian University. This funding will provide the Acceleration Consortium with seven years of resources to realize its vision.

The AC is constructing seven advanced SDLs:

  • SDL1 - Inorganic solid-state compounds for advanced materials and energy
  • SDL2 - Organic small molecules for sustainability and health
  • SDL3 - Medicinal chemistry for improving small molecule drug candidates
  • SDL4 - Polymers for materials science and biological applications
  • SDL5 - Formulations for pharmaceuticals, consumer products, and coatings
  • SDL6 - Biocompatibility with organoids / organ-on-a-chip
  • SDL7 - Synthetic scale-up of materials and molecules (University of British Colombia partner lab)
  • A central AI and Automation lab to support all the SDLs

This position is for a Senior Staff Scientist within SDL2: Organic.

Desired Expertise:

Organic small molecules expertise:
- Multi-step synthesis and purification of complex small molecules
- High-throughput organic synthesis, purification, and processing
- Characterization of small molecules using a variety of techniques
- Enabling synthetic technologies (e.g., flow chemistry, photochemistry, electrochemistry, etc)

Additional desired expertise (not required):

Artificial intelligence / automation expertise:
- Machine learning to expedite the discovery of molecules and materials
- Robotics and automation
- Experimental planning and design/optimization
- Programming and high-performance computing

The Senior Staff Scientists will collaborate with a diverse team of leading experts at U of T, including Professors Alán Aspuru-Guzik, Sophie Rousseaux, and more.

The Senior Staff Scientists at the AC are highly skilled and experienced researchers who will work autonomously to develop the AI and automation technologies essential to establish robust and scalable self-driving labs, oversee these SDLs, and design and execute research programs (following the AC's scientific leadership team's guidance) that utilize the SDL platforms to discover materials and molecules.

These scientists will assume a leadership position within the AC research enterprise, setting objectives and directions for a subgroup of Staff Scientists. These roles offer a significant level of autonomy and latitude in achieving the AC's ambitious goals. Reporting will be to the Academic Director and Executive Director of the Acceleration Consortium. Individuals with diverse backgrounds and expertise are sought to bolster the development of self-driving labs and materials discovery.

Key Responsibilities:

  • SDL and Automation Development - Collaborating with the AC community, including faculty and partners, to determine the required SDL capabilities. Developing plans for user-friendly SDLs and designing innovative instruments for automated material synthesis and characterization. Crafting customized hardware and Python software packages for SDL construction. Selecting, procuring, and installing necessary equipment for SDLs.
  • Facility Management and Operations - Coordinating with the Department of Chemistry, Facilities and Operations, and AC research staff to ensure full functionality of the AC labs.
  • Overseeing the laboratory technicians servicing the labs
  • Supporting equipment selection, procurement, and installation
  • Managing lab budgets
  • Scheduling and coordinating lab access
  • Research Direction - Acting as a co-investigator alongside the Principal Investigator to independently manage, develop, and execute research programs leveraging the AC's SDLs. Utilizing SDLs for synthesizing and characterizing large quantities of candidate molecules, calibrating theoretical models with experimental data, predicting promising candidates using computational tools and machine learning algorithms, and elucidating structure-property relationships of emerging molecules, polymers, solid-state materials, formulations, etc.
Manages the research and development projects of AC's industry partners when conducted in AC labsDevelops plans that facilitate research collaborations and forecasts financial resources needed for programs/projectsSupervises the work of Staff Scientists, Software Engineers, Research Associates, and Post-doctoral FellowsCollaborating with Product Managers to ensure research outcomes meet partner requirementsMonitoring and reporting on relevant research activity to the Academic Director and Executive DirectorPromoting AC's research capability, including presenting at conferencesContributing to the preparation and submission of research proposals to granting agencies and progress reportingDrafting manuscripts for submission to peer-reviewed publications/journals and facilitating the publication processOtherProviding consulting services related to SDL application for materials discovery within AC's partnershipsSupporting research-focused events like the Annual Symposium

Minimum Qualifications:

Education – Ph.D. in chemistry, materials science, life sciences, physics, engineering, robotics, computer science, or related discipline

Experience

Over 10 years of research and development experienceExperience closely collaborating with a Principal Investigator or as a Principal Investigator/Project DirectorExtensive knowledge of AI and automationExperience in self-driving lab development and lab oversightEngagement with industry partners on research and development projectsPresentation experience at academic conferencesManagement of research staff and laboratory budgetsSolid scholarly publication record

Skills

Effective communication skills in EnglishCollaborative approach in team settingsAbility to work independently

Other

Success in preparing various scientific documents for publication

All qualified individuals are encouraged to apply; priority will be given to Canadians and permanent residents.

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