Career Center

The Advanced Instrumentation Specialist (AIS) is part of a team that oversees a large suite of complex scientific instrumentation for use in teaching and research. The AIS is responsible for oversight for these instruments from day-of-purchase to day-of-disposal and assisting students and faculty with instrument use and troubleshooting.

Primary Position Responsibilities:

• Maintain a suite of instruments at the Science Center primarily for the Biology, Chemistry, Geoscience, Neuroscience and Physics departments. Diagnose and troubleshoot problems, provide repairs, or arrange for off-site repair as required. Work with the manufacturer's Technical Support group and install repair parts as necessary.

• Provide training for faculty, staff and student users on advanced instrumentation, including the preparation of user documentation distilled from vendors operating manuals. Write up basic instructions for the safe start-up, operation, maintenance and shut down of the unit. Prepare standard operating procedures for use of advanced instrumentation.

• For new instrumentation, research and advise faculty and staff on the selection of equipment prior to purchase, ensure site is prepared for the installation of new equipment, add equipment to inventory, and monitor the install.

• Perform periodic maintenance on existing equipment. Design and run tests on the instruments to check performance at regular intervals.

• Advise department heads when major pieces of equipment are nearing the end of useful life. Coordinates responsible disposal of equipment at end of life cycle.

• Maintain inventory of equipment in the Science Center. Coordinate and maintain service contracts when appropriate.

• Coordinates with Environmental Health and Safety and the Associate Provost and Director of the Science Center to ensure safe operating procedures are followed by faculty, staff, and students.

• Work collaboratively with other Science Center Staff (Advanced Instrumentation Specialist, Instrument Technician, Machinist, and others) to maintain the suite of instrumentation within the Science Center. Partners with the other Advanced Instrument Specialist, the Instrumentation Technician and the Machinist to design and build custom instrumentation as needed.

Performance Profile:

• Instrumentation support is prompt, effective and responsive to teaching and research needs. At all times, tries to provide preventative maintenance and training, so as to pre-empt and anticipate potential failure and problems.

• Diagnoses technical problems quickly and takes actions to resolve them while working under pressure. Proactively identifies recurrent problems and offers input to resolve complex problems

• Response to requests for service due to instrument failure and/or building needs is prompt and thorough. This may require work outside normal business hours, including response on weekends and holidays.

• Special projects are completed according to specified time frames and stated objectives.

• Detailed and thorough records are maintained on all work, and are available as needed for inspection by EHS, OSHA, Radiation Control program, etc., as well as by request from supervisor and other Science Center or College staff.

Supervises:

• Possibility of supervision of student assistants

Education Required:

• B.S. or equivalent on-the-job experience

Experience Required:

• Minimum of 3 years' experience maintaining advanced scientific instrumentation

• Prior teaching/training experience preferred

• Background in electronics would be a plus

Skills and Abilities Required:

• Strong technical skills and prior electronic/electromechanical and repair experience required.

• Strong organizational and communication skills (oral, written, technical) required.

• Ability to learn "on-the-job" and to keep up with changes in instrumentation and regulations required.

• Ability to work with diverse learners and to help users with differing levels of experience gain technical expertise required. Prior teaching/training experience preferred.

• Customer-service mindset/attitude required.

• Ability to manage multiple projects/tasks at once essential.

Other:

Current instrument mix includes: NMRs, Confocal Microscope, Atomic Force Microscope, Fluorescent Microscopes and Spectrometers, GC/MS systems and MALDI-TOF MS/MS, HPLCs, LC systems, FTIRs, various UV/VIS Spectrometers and Microarrays, PCR units, ICP spectrometer, Element Analyzer, Particle Sizer, X-ray Element analyzer, Scintillation Counter and all of the support equipment required to prepare samples for use by these instruments.

The Advanced Instrumentation Specialist must be a team player, willing to work whenever needed to keep instrumentation functioning; for example, when a power failure occurs, all instrumentation must be manually re-started, regardless of when the failure takes place. This means that the Advanced Instrumentation Specialist must respond to issues that arise 24/7/365. In addition, this position is frequently asked to take help with other issues that arise on an as-needed basis; these require a broad range of potential problem-solving skills, and may include a requirement to take on new tasks as regulations change or as the need arises within the building. Although daunting, the Advanced Instrumentation Specialist works as part of a team of instrumentation specialists, and thus, has talented colleagues to work with (the other Advanced Instrumentation Specialist, the Instrument Technician, and the Machinist, as well as talented faculty and staff within departments).

All employees hired after August 2, 2021 are required to upload proof of vaccination and booster against COVID‐19, subject to approved medical or religious exemptions or disability accommodations.

Wellesley College offers a wide variety of benefits programs and resources to its employees, including:

• Generous paid time off

• Following one year of employment, Wellesley College will contribute up to 10.5% towards your 403B plan for eligible employees

• Resources to navigate student loan forgiveness

• Free use of the athletic/fitness facilities, including onsite and virtual fitness classes

• Free on-site parking in an enclosed parking garage

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About Wellesley College

Wellesley is known for the excellence of its education, the beauty of its setting, its gifted faculty, and the uniqueness of its campus culture. But most of all, Wellesley is known for the thousands of accomplished, thoughtful women it has sent out into the world for over 100 years women who are committed to making a difference. Every year, some 2,400 of the world's top undergraduate women are challenged to exceed their own highest personal and intellectual expectations. The mastery Wellesley graduates demonstrate across the professional and vocational spectrum, and the influence they wield, whether in their own communities or on the world stage is testament to a singularly empowering undergraduate experience. Wellesley's lively academic community places a high value on rigorous, probing inquiry, and creative, cross-discipline thinking. Its collaborative approach to scholarship encourages students to question, debate, and refine their points of view, not only with each other, but with our world-class faculty, often by working directly with them on groundbreaking projects. A Wellesley education fosters the highest standard of readiness for the real world in its graduates, in terms... of ability to think, act, and contribute meaningfully and effectively in their chosen areas of interest.

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