Job Description

Major Responsibilities:
Repairs, assembles, maintains or dismantles laboratory apparatuses at direction of the Department Chair.
Supports the Undergraduate Education Committee and faculty person(s) leading the instruction of laboratory courses to improve reliability and usefulness of undergraduate lab experiments by designing and building equipment to industrial standards and training teaching assistants in its use. Specifies and orders undergraduate lab supplies and equipment.
Directs shop personnel and consultants in servicing, modernizing, and building research and teaching lab equipment.
Directs vendors and contractors for lab equipment installation and servicing; manages equipment shipping, receiving, and installation in laboratories.
Co-chairs Department Facilities & Safety committee.
Responds to and resolves lab emergencies including after-hours problems.
Updates emergency action plans including creating and updating the department disaster plan.
Liaises with the Department’s safety Laboratory Manager, University Environmental Health & Safety department, and national safety organizations to ensure that department practices remain aligned with current safety technology and resources, including SciShield or other safety management software for chemical inventories and research lab chemical lists.
Advises lab users of safety resources in coordination with the Department’s safety Laboratory Manager.
Manages laboratory waste storage and collection.
Coordinates and performs hands-on research laboratory fit-outs as required by faculty. Equipment and laboratory fit-outs support chemical and biomolecular engineering research activities ranging from catalyst design and testing, to polymeric and ‘soft’ materials synthesis and characterization, to experimentation involving living systems such as microbial and mammalian cells.
Assists researchers (e.g., graduate and undergraduate students, postdocs, and research scientists) with research equipment systems integration, including fixture designs and equipment mounts.
Liaises with Facilities Services and Campus Planning (FSCP) on specific maintenance and laboratory improvement projects, including minor research lab renovations. Serves on campus-wide committees including the University Chemical Hygiene Committee and other committees as directed by the Chair and Sr. Business Administrator. Recommends space changes to CBE Chair. Liaises with the Department safety Lab Manager and other COE Lab Managers and Coordinators to improve safety training programs, share best practices, and network to share facilities and equipment.
Coordinates laboratory, equipment, and office moves including faculty office and lab cleanouts. Assists staff with preparations for symposia, research reviews, and other events. Manages Colburn Lab loading dock traffic and compressed gas cylinder security. Trains and supervises student hourly workers.
The CBE Laboratory Manager is expected to walk through department labs daily, taking a hands-on approach by providing 260+ graduate students, visiting scholars, post-doctoral fellows, research scientists, and undergraduate researchers with technical support of CBE research projects.

Qualifications:
Bachelor’s degree in an engineering related field with five years experience in design/build prototyping for R&D applications using modular design principles.
Skills in component selection and integration, operations and maintenance of research lab instruments such as gas chromatographs, mass flow controllers, HPLC, FTIR, UV/VIS and mass spectrometers, chemical reactor and distillation systems, along with life sciences instrumentation and processes including ultracentrifugation, bioreactor design and operations, protein and peptide synthesis and purification, and best practices with lab instrument piping, tube bending and tube fitting selection.
Experience in job hazard analysis, hazard review of chemical reactors, and organizing laboratory safety inspections and inspection follow-up.
Routine use of CAD software, Microsoft Office software, and either LabView or engineering modeling software is required.
Working knowledge is desirable in selecting sensors, valves, tube fittings, extruded aluminum and composite channel strut framing systems, wiring and cabling, HVAC, logic controllers and data logging systems including National Instruments products.
Familiarity with machine tool technology and R&D shop processes, has CNC skills, tool making, heat treatment, and surface finishing process skills.