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The University of Maryland, College Park, an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer, complies with all applicable federal and state laws and regulations regarding nondiscrimination and affirmative action; all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment. The University is committed to a policy of equal opportunity for all persons and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, physical or mental disability, protected veteran status, age, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, creed, marital status, political affiliation, personal appearance, or on the basis of rights secured by the First Amendment, in all aspects of employment, educational programs and activities, and admissions.

FY26 MRC Postdoctoral Fellowship Program Announcement

The Maryland Robotics Center (MRC) in the Institute for Systems Research at the University of Maryland, College Park, is seeking candidates for the FY26 MRC Postdoctoral Fellowship Program. Candidate research interests should fit into one or more of the following research areas:

• Multi-Robot Systems: robotic swarms, robotic cooperation under limited communication, distributed robotics, crowd and multi-agent simulation, long-distance collaborative autonomy;
• Medical Robotics: surgical robotics, haptics-enabled robotics, exoskeletons for rehabilitation, and magnetic micromanipulation for drug delivery;
• Miniature Robotics: mesoscale robots, cell manipulation, and micro and nano manipulation;
• Robotics for Extreme Environments: space robotics and autonomous underwater vehicles;
• Autonomous Unmanned Systems: aerial robotics, unmanned sea surface vehicles, planetary surface rovers, robot motion planning, digital twin development, robot navigation of complex terrain, and simulation-based verification for autonomous systems;
• Bioinspired Robotics: Robots inspired by biological forms, bio-inspired design and manufacturing, artificial muscles, adaptive control of bio-inspired robots, biosensors, soft robots, co-robotics, multifunctional materials and structures, biomaterials, and biolocomotion;
• Cognitive Robotics:  explainable artificial intelligence, perception-based interaction, and metareasoning to improve team performance;
• Human-Robot Interaction: Human-robot collaboration, human behavior modeling, human-robot communication, learning and cognition, planning and re-planning, management of trust and its effects on collaboration, and forensics for human-machine teaming.

Applicants should be outstanding, intellectually curious researchers at an early stage in their scholarly career. Applicants are required to have received a Ph.D. in Engineering, Computer Science, or a related field by the expected start date on or before July 1st and should be within 5 years of their Ph.D. graduation date. Applicants should have demonstrated a capacity for independent work.

We recognize that strength comes through diversity and actively seek and welcome people with diverse backgrounds, experiences, and identities. We especially encourage women and minority candidates to apply.

Applications will be judged on the qualifications of the applicant and the quality and originality of the proposed research and its potential impact. Prior to applying, applicants are required to contact an MRC faculty member in order to identify a prospective postdoctoral mentor. MRC postdoctoral fellows will have access to the full range of talent and resources available at the Maryland Robotics Center, and will be encouraged to interact broadly with the Center faculty in addition to their postdoctoral faculty advisor and their research group.

We expect to offer fellowship positions with funding guaranteed for one year. Renewing beyond the first year is subject to funding availability and performance. Competitive salary and benefits will be provided.

Application Materials

1. A letter of interest from the applicant clearly stating one or more research areas listed above and a 1- 2 page description of the proposed research. The research proposal should include the name of the postdoctoral advisor (see #3), title of research project, statement of objectives, anticipated contributions to the state of the art, and requested start date.
2. Applicant’s CV including publication list.
3. A letter of endorsement from a faculty member of the Maryland Robotics Center. Faculty bios and websites are accessible from robotics.umd.edu/faculty. This letter of endorsement should be included in the pdf file application.
4. A letter of recommendation, preferably from the applicant’s Ph.D. thesis advisor, to be sent directly to robotics@umd.edu with the candidate’s name as the subject. The letter should provide detailed assessments of the applicant’s qualifications and potential for innovative, ground-breaking independent research and the expected date of completion of the PhD requirements, if still in progress.

Applicants should email all application materials as a single pdf file named Applicant’s LastName_MRCFY26FELLOW to robotics@umd.edu. The letter of endorsement from an MRC faculty member should be included in the pdf file application. Questions should be directed to robotics@umd.edu. For best consideration, applications should be submitted by March 1st.

The MRC Postdoctoral Fellowship positions are subject to availability of funds and hiring approval by the Institute for Systems Research.