The Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Michigan invites applications for a postdoctoral research fellow. The position is part of a U.S. Department of Energy Genesis Mission project that brings together the University of Michigan, Los Alamos National Laboratory, and Argonne National Laboratory to accelerate materials discovery by integrating advanced 3D X-ray diffraction experiments, mechanistic modeling, and artificial intelligence.
A powerful set of high-resolution 3D X-ray diffraction imaging modalities - topotomography, dark-field X-ray microscopy, and Bragg coherent diffraction imaging - has emerged over the past decade that can resolve 3D defect architectures and strain fields with spatial resolutions approaching tens of nanometers. However, current reconstructions are slow, expert-driven, and difficult to scale, preventing real-time experimental decision-making and broader use for materials design.
To address this challenge, the project will combine molecular dynamics-generated synthetic microstructures, physics-based forward diffraction models, and generative AI approaches such as variational autoencoders and diffusion models. The resulting workflow will train AI models on paired virtual diffraction data and known ground truth, then validate and refine them using experimental datasets from DOE light sources. The postdoctoral fellow will focus on curating the virtual diffraction models and datasets, eventually extending into real experiments and experimental datasets collected at the Advanced Photon Source.