Staff Engineer Support Specialist

Position Summary: This two-year, full-time Staff Engineer position is part of the Biomedical Engineering work unit within the Vanderbilt University School of Engineering. This role is intended to further graduate study education without direct pursuit of a formal degree with a focus on investigating transformative research within the context of surgery and intervention. This education-focused position will provide hands-on experience within the Biomedical Engineering Department’s Biomedical Modeling Laboratory and within the Vanderbilt Institute for Surgery and Engineering (VISE) for learning about image-guided surgical and interventional technologies, advanced methods in computer vision, machine learning for biomedical problems, computational modeling, and medical robotics. 

About the Work Unit: The Department of Biomedical Engineering at Vanderbilt is unique among biomedical engineering programs in its immediate proximity to the world class Vanderbilt Medical Center, located on our compact campus. Our School of Medicine is among the top ten in funding from the National Institutes of Health and includes a National Cancer Institute-recognized Comprehensive Cancer Center, a major children’s hospital and a Level I trauma center. This proximity and the strong relationships among faculty across multiple schools stimulate high impact research and provide unique educational and research opportunities for students. 

Key Functions and Expected Performance: 

• Work closely with principal investigators, study teams, clinical staff and administrative staff. 

• Ability to learn and contribute to projects within the context of 1.) surgery and intervention, 2.) artificial intelligence, machine learning and computer vision, 3.) quantitative imaging, 4.) creating digital twins for customization of interventions, 5.) organ transplant viability, and 6.) methods mixed reality. 

• Interest in and comfort level with technical domains such as computer vision, machine learning, computational modeling, and/or medical robotics, as well as human and animal studies, potentially including hands-on translational surgical research in real-time in the operating room. 

• Submit work to technical conferences for the purpose of attending one technical conference per year where the candidate will present their research. 

• Take at least one academic course per year. 

• Work closely with direct supervisor to craft a learning path that supports both the candidate and the goals of the Biomedical Modeling Lab and VISE.

• Delivering clinical lectures may be required. 

Supervisory Relationships: This position does not have supervisory responsibility. This position reports administratively and functionally to the Professor. 

Education and Certifications:  A Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Science degree from an accredited domestic university is required.  Degrees in the sciences of engineering (i.e. biomedical engineering, or computer science) are required.  Minors in mathematics, data science, and statistics preferred.  An education background that includes clinically versed engineering, robotic surgery and medical computer vision. 

Experience and Skills:  Experience working in an academic environment is required.  Professional and pleasant attitude with the ability to work with tact and diplomacy when interacting with students, faculty, and staff is required.  An ability to maintain quality and safety standards is required.  An ability to understand and follow complex, detailed technical instructions is required.  Strong communication skills and collaboration are required.  Higher education experience is strongly preferred.  An ability to work independently with a high level of self-motivation is preferred.  An ability to learn new skills quickly is preferred.  Adaptability to ever changing projects and people is preferred.  Computer and database skills are preferred.