The Pennsylvania State University seeks a postdoctoral researcher to contribute to the DARPA “Make-It” program for fully automated chemical synthesis within the research group of Kyle Bishop.

Description: As part of an interdisciplinary team centered at MIT, the postdoc will be responsible for developing computational tools forretrosynthetic analysis and reaction prediction. The research effort will make use of large reaction databases to infer sequences of candidate reactions that best direct the transformation of available starting materials into desired products (e.g., active pharmaceutical ingredients). Synthetic pathways identified by combinatorial search algorithms will be validated experimentally within flow reactors to provide data, with which to refine retrosynthetic models. Ultimately, our team of Chemical Engineers, Chemists, and Computer Scientists aims to revolutionize the field of Organic Synthesis by creating the first-ever fully automated chemical synthesizer.

Qualifications: The successful applicant will have knowledge and experience in computational chemistry, cheminformatics (RDkit), and computer programming (python, C++, Java). Additional experience with methods of combinatorial optimization, graph theory, and machine learning is preferred. A PhD in Chemical Engineering, Chemistry, or a related field is required.