Technical Specialist: ATHENA NSF Programmable Cloud Lab - UTK

University Of Tennessee College
University Of Tennessee College

IT · Full-time

Knoxville, TN, USA

Posted on Oct 9, 2026
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The Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, invites applications for a Technical Specialist to support research activities associated with the PCL ATHENA program. The position will provide advanced microscopy expertise, user support, instrumentation operation, scientific data analysis, and technical support for collaborative research and educational activities.

ATHENA is a newly funded $20 million National Science Foundation (NSF) Platform for Programmable Cloud Lab (PCL) headquartered at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UT) in collaboration with Northwestern University, Johns Hopkins University and Pellissippi State Community College, with multiple academic, national laboratories, and industrial partners. ATHENA is one of NSF’s flagship national testbeds established to develop the next generation of autonomous laboratories, AI-driven scientific discovery, cloud-connected instrumentation, and cyber-physical infrastructure for materials research.

The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, has shaped leaders, changemakers, and innovative thinkers since its founding in 1794. The university is home to more than 38,000 students and 10,000 statewide employees—the Volunteers—who uphold the university’s tradition of lighting the way for others through leadership and service.

UT Knoxville offers over 900 programs of study across 14 degree-granting colleges and schools. As Tennessee’s flagship land-grant university, its footprint spans the entire state. The university holds the highest Carnegie classification for research activity and has deep partnerships with industry leaders and the US Department of Energy’s largest multidisciplinary laboratory, Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

The Knoxville campus serves and recruits for UT Knoxville, including the Institute of Agriculture and the Space Institute, as well as the UT Institute of Public Service.

UT Knoxville considers its employees its number one asset. With values that focus on work-life balance, compensation, and innovation leadership, all Vols are supported to advance professionally. Employees have access to career development and coaching, continued education, and an extensive list of development and training possibilities. The Volunteer employee experience implements structures and practices to attract and retain top-tier talent, fostering a strong staff community and supporting a culture of involvement and engagement for everyone.

The university holds a strong commitment to its land-grant mission of learning and engagement, with a tradition of service and leadership that carries that Volunteer spirit throughout the state and around the world. It has been ranked nationally as “Best Employer for New Graduates,” “One of America’s Best Large Employers,” and “Best Workplace for Women,” and has been designated as “Best Place for Working Parents” by Forbes Magazine.

Apply today and join the Tennessee Volunteer community!
ATHENA is a newly funded $20 million National Science Foundation (NSF) Platform for Programmable Cloud Lab (PCL) headquartered at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UT) in collaboration with Northwestern University, Johns Hopkins University and Pellissippi State Community College, with multiple academic, national laboratories, and industrial partners. ATHENA is one of NSF’s flagship national testbeds established to develop the next generation of autonomous laboratories, AI-driven scientific discovery, cloud-connected instrumentation, and cyber-physical infrastructure for materials research.

Required qualifications:

  • Bachelor's degree in materials science, physics, engineering, or a closely related field.
  • Experience with scanning probe microscopy (SPM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), focused ion beam (FIB), and scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM).
  • Experience operating, troubleshooting, or supporting advanced scientific instrumentation.
  • Experience with scientific data processing and analysis.
  • Ability to train and support users in a multidisciplinary research environment.

Applicants must be legally authorized to work in the United States on a full-time basis without need now or in the future for sponsorship for employment-based visa status.

Preferred qualifications:

  • Advanced degree in materials science, physics, engineering, or a related discipline.
  • Experience with correlative or multimodal microscopy workflows.
  • Experience with Python or related scientific programming tools.
  • Experience developing microscopy data-analysis workflows, automation tools, or scientific web resources.

Work Location

  • Knoxville, TN
  • Onsite

Compensation and Benefits

  • UT market range: MR08

  • Find more information on the UT Market Range structure here

  • Find more information on UT Benefits here

Application Instructions

To express interest, please submit an application with the noted below attachments:

  • Resume

  • Cover Letter

Why Join ATHENA?

ATHENA is building a national platform that will transform materials research through AI, robotics, cloud-connected instrumentation, and autonomous experimentation. This position offers the opportunity to help lead one of the NSF’s premier national research infrastructure initiatives and work alongside world-leading researchers shaping the future of AI-enabled scientific discovery.

About the Tickle College of Engineering

The Tickle College of Engineering (TCE) is in the midst of an unprecedented period of growth and success, including adding over 30 new faculty to the college as part of ambitious hiring campaigns led by Chancellor Donde Plowman and Dean Matthew Mench. The college has set records in research expenditures, enrollment, incoming student GPA, diversity, intellectual property development, and U.S. News & World Report rank in the past three years. New facilities include the state-of-the-art Zeanah Engineering Complex, the University of Tennessee Manufacturing and Design Enterprise (TN-MADE) facility, and the Innovation South building now under construction that will house UTK’s Fibers and Composites Manufacturing Facility (FCMF).

TCE currently has 203 tenure/tenure-track and 79 non-tenure track faculty in its nine academic departments and offers 11 undergraduate, 16 M.S., and 15 Ph.D./DE degree programs. Affiliated with TCE and located in Tullahoma, Tennessee, the UT Space Institute is a hub of aerospace and defense research. The college is also home to eight research centers and three interdisciplinary institutes. With approximately 4,300 undergraduate and 1,500 graduate students, the college sits 29th among public universities in the most recent U.S. News and World Report graduate rankings. Faculty in the college have won 29 early career awards (NSF, DOE, DARPA, AFOSR, and ARO) since 2016. In FY24, the college had annual research expenditures of $113.6M.

  • Advanced Microscopy and User Support: Serve as a technical resource for ATHENA users by supporting experiment planning, user training, troubleshooting, and data acquisition using scanning probe microscopy (SPM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), focused ion beam (FIB), and scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM).
  • Instrumentation Operations: Operate, maintain, troubleshoot, and support advanced microscopy instrumentation used in ongoing research and collaborative experimental workflows.
  • Correlative and Multimodal Microscopy: Support experiments combining SPM, SEM, FIB, and STEM techniques
  • Scientific Data Processing: Develop and implement data-processing and analysis workflows for complex and multidimensional microscopy datasets generated by SPM, SEM, FIB, and STEM measurements.
  • Scientific Computing and Outreach Support: Develop and maintain computational and web-based resources supporting ATHENA research activities, microscopy hackathons, summer schools, workshops, and related scientific training and outreach programs.
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