Date Posted: 11/15/2024 Req ID: 40702 Faculty/Division: Faculty of Arts and Science Department: Acceleration Consortium Campus: St. George (Downtown Toronto) Description: The Acceleration Consortium (AC) at the University of Toronto (U of T) is leading a transformative shift in scientific discovery that will accelerate technology development and commercialization. The AC is a global community of academia, industry, and government that leverages the power of artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, materials sciences, and high:throughput chemistry to create self:driving laboratories (SDLs), also called materials acceleration platforms (MAPs). These autonomous labs rapidly design materials and molecules needed for a sustainable, healthy, and resilient future, with applications ranging from renewable energy and consumer electronics to drugs.AC Senior Staff Scientists will advance the field of AI:driven autonomous discovery and develop the materials and molecules required to address societys largest challenges, such as climate change, water pollution, and future pandemics. The Acceleration Consortium (AC) promotes inclusive research environment and supports the EDI priorities of the unit. Hiring is occurring on a rolling intake. Please apply ASAP and do not wait for the listed job closing date. The Acceleration Consortium received a200M Canadian First Research Excellence Grantfor seven years to develop self:driving labs for chemistry and materials, the largest ever grant to a Canadian University. This grant will provide the Acceleration Consortium with seven years of funding to execute its vision. The AC is developing seven advanced SDLs. These include: stylemargin:bottom:11.0px: : SDL1 : Inorganic solid:state compounds for advanced materials and energy : SDL2 : Organic small molecules for sustainability and health : SDL3 : Medicinal chemistry for improving small molecule drug candidates : SDL4 : Polymers for materials science and biological applications : SDL5 : Formulations for pharmaceuticals, consumer products, and coatings : SDL6 : Biocompatibility with organoids / organ:on:a:chip : SDL7 : Synthetic scale:up of materials and molecules (University of British Colombia partner lab) : A central AI and Automation lab to support all the SDLs Expertise that is desired: Polymer synthesis : Synthesis and purification of polymers : Combinatorial synthesis of sequence:defined polymers such as biopolymers Additional expertise that is desired (but not required): Automation : Robotics and automation : Machine learning to accelerate the discovery of molecules and materials : Experimental planning and design/optimization : Programming and high:performance computing Additional expertise that is desired (but not required): Automation : Developing polymer blends or composites for 3D printing, concrete, packaging or textiles : Bioengineering applications using biologically relevant materials such as peptides, peptoids, chitosan or lignan Staff Scientists will work with a diverse team of leading experts at U of T, including: Prof. Helen Tran, Prof. Dwight Seferos, and Acceleration Consortium Staff Scientists. The Senior Staff Scientists involved in the AC are highly skilled and experienced researchers who will work independently to develop the AI and automation technologies required to build robust and scalable self:driving labs, manage these SDLs, and design and implement research programs (based on the direction of the AC's scientific leadership team) that leverage the SDL platforms to discover materials and molecules. Senior Staff Scientists will play a leadership role within the AC research enterprise; and set objectives and directions for a subgroup of Staff Scientists. These positions involve a significant degree of autonomy and latitude on how to achieve the ambitious goals of the AC. T