Apply to Do Research with Us!

We are always looking for talented researchers who want to contribute with new ideas and areas to the Smart Management of Infrastructure Laboratory (SMILab). Apply by email at fmoreu@unm.edu.

 

 

If you are interested in doing research with us, write me an email indicating why your research interests, capabilities, and working experience overlap with the research work and activities you see going on in our laboratory. This specifically means that you have: (a) studied this Website, (b) read our news, (c) become familiar with our papers, and (d) understand the very diverse and dynamic range of activities we conduct in SMILab. Indicate how you see yourself conducting any of the following activities: (a) studying independently; (b) conducting new research within multidisciplinary areas and colleagues; (c) presenting new research results regularly to industry, colleagues, infrastructure managers, and researchers;  (d) programming structural dynamics; (e) designing your own experiments; (f) fabricating your sensors; (g) advancing Structural Health Monitoring (SHM); (h) programming Augmented Reality (AR); (i) and/or adding sensors to drones, robots, rockets… then, you can be a good fit to join our research group.

 

In your email please be very specific about having the correct background to join our group: Which papers did you publish on these areas? What experiences have led you to an interest in wireless sensors, SHM, computer-vision, AR, structural dynamics, experimental dynamics, human-structure interfaces, and smart management of infrastructure? For example, if you have built sensors in the past, programmed AR, connected experimental and computational models of structures, received formal training in cyber-physical systems, please discuss how you are ready to contribute in my group. Why would you be a good fit for SMILab’s multi-disciplinary activities? How will you be able to contribute with innovative research to SMILab?

 

These are the positions that are typically open in SMILab:

 

Post-doctoral Researchers

Every 1-2 years the post-doc position opens for candidates with excellent qualifications and unique career potential in our research areas. Postdoc duties will include conducting and leading research in close collaboration with my research team in various projects and topics, in general very multidisciplinary. The position is expected to assist in research growth that will place our research group as a reference in our community/areas. You will be responsible for working with me to prepare and review proposals and technical reports to funding agencies. You will supervise, lead, and assist the activities of undergraduate and graduate students associated with the research. You will contribute to SMILab with high quality research in the areas above and grow/attract new research to SMILab. In the course of this work, you will be expected to publish research in scientific journals and present work at national and international scientific meetings.

 

Graduate Students

Every year we grow with 1-2 new graduate students. We are always interested to add new graduate students who want to join SMILab. If you are not at UNM, I recommend that you first explore the requirements for being accepted in UNM Graduate Studies (http://grad.unm.edu/prospective-students/admissions-criteria.html). Also become familiar with the specific requirements of your specific department of your degree and contact them for questions about admissions: Department of Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering  (http://civil.unm.edu/students/graduate/index.html), Mechanical Engineering (https://me.unm.edu/students/graduate/index.html) or Electrical and Computer Engineering (http://ece.unm.edu/graduate/). If you are from a different department, you have to contact them directly and ask them. If you are already admitted in UNM, I recommend you begin taking an independent study (problems class) to explore if my laboratory is a good fit for you. After taking a problem class with me, if you perform well, you will be considered for a Research Assistant (RA) position in SMILab. RAs are voluntary and not required for your graduate studies. Some graduate students successfully self-fund their studies with off campus work, fellowships, or scholarships. In some cases, exceptional candidates who provide extremely good qualifications/reasons to study and succeed in my group as graduate students are offered an RA with admission to UNM. In almost every case, students may: (1) have worked in the past in experimental dynamics in projects I am familiar with, (2) have demonstrated high quality research with past publications or projects; (3) have demonstrated/articulated that they are prepared to apply that previous training to their graduate degree under my supervision; and (4) have provided evidence for sustained success and degree completion after admission. Graduate students in SMILab will be conducting experiments, organizing or analyzing data, presenting findings in a publication or dissertation, collaborating with me in preparing publications, reports, technical writings, and results. We hope you consider us for your career! Preference is given to PhD students. MS students interested to pursue a PhD are also considered and those who have demonstrated their ability to contribute to SMILab during their UG RA.

 

Visiting Scholars

We are glad to add new collaborators from different institutions to SMILab to increase the impact of our research with your work. Please email me directly with your research background and interests so we can discuss if SMILab and UNM can be a good fit for your career. Please check carefully our website and become familiar with our projects to ensure you like the research being conducted at SMILab. We are very interested in multidisciplinary research associates from Electrical and Computer Engineering, Computer Science, Mechanical Engineering, and other areas that can contribute to advance SMILab.

 

Undergraduate Students

I recommend you begin working with me as an undergraduate student if you are interested in graduate school, are curious about research, want to learn more about the work we do in SMILab, and would like to write a scientific paper as an undergraduate student. In general, undergraduate research assistants need to first demonstrate their ability to produce and generate high quality results for graduate students’ projects, before they are offered an UG RA position. This will help you decide if SMILab is a good fit for you.

 

High School Students

Exceptional high school students are accepted to conduct their research under the direction of SMILab researchers to work on an independent project related to the research areas of our group. In the past, we have been privileged to supervise the work of very talented researchers who wrote papers and presented at international conferences. Those experiences assisted them in their College applications. If you are interested to contribute with your ideas, please email me.

 

We hope to hear from you soon!

Dr. Fernando Moreu