Research Project Manager: ATHENA NSF Programmable Cloud Lab - UTK

ATHENA is a newly funded $20 million National Science Foundation (NSF) Platform for Programmable Cloud Lab (PCL) headquartered at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UT) in collaboration with Northwestern University, Johns Hopkins University and Pellissippi State Community College, with multiple academic, national laboratories, and industrial partners. ATHENA is one of NSF’s flagship national testbeds established to develop the next generation of autonomous laboratories, AI-driven scientific discovery, cloud-connected instrumentation, and cyber-physical infrastructure for materials research.

The Research Project Manager will oversee the day-to-day management and administration of ATHENA and serve as the operational leader of this nationally visible initiative. The successful candidate will coordinate scientific, operational, financial, and administrative activities across partner institutions; work directly with the ATHENA Director, Co-Directors, Principal Investigators, institutional leadership, and NSF program officers; manage project milestones and budgets; coordinate reporting; facilitate national collaborations; and help ensure successful implementation of ATHENA's scientific and educational mission.

Project Management and Strategic Coordination (45%)

• Manage all operational aspects of the ATHENA NSF-PCL Center.
• Coordinate activities among investigators at the University of Tennessee, Northwestern University, Johns Hopkins University, Pellissippi State Community College, and other partner institutions.
• Coordinate implementation of ATHENA’s national cyber-physical infrastructure connecting autonomous laboratories across UT.
• Develop and maintain project management timelines, milestones, deliverables, risk management plans, and project dashboards.
• Track scientific, educational, software, infrastructure, and workforce development milestones across all project thrusts.
• Organize Monthly Business Review, Executive Committee, Leadership Team, External Advisory Board meetings, NSF site visits, workshops, and annual meetings.
• Serve as the primary administrative point of contact for ATHENA stakeholders.
• Coordinate collaborative activities among faculty, students, postdoctoral researchers, industry, and national laboratories.

Budget Management and Financial Oversight (20%)

• Assist ATHENA leadership in managing the approximately $20 million NSF award over the four-year project.
• Monitor expenditures, subawards, spending projections, and financial performance across UT and work with participating institutions.
• Work closely with departmental business offices and sponsored programs.
• Prepare financial summaries and support budget planning and modifications.
• Ensure spending aligns with project milestones and NSF requirements.

Reporting, Assessment, and Compliance (15%)

• Coordinate preparation of NSF quarterly reports and required documentation.
• Track quarterly progress reports from all Principal Investigators and thrust leaders.
• Develop progress metrics and dashboards for scientific, educational, and broader-impact activities.
• Maintain compliance with NSF reporting requirements and project deliverables.

National Coordination and External Engagement (10%)

• Serve as ATHENA’s primary administrative liaison with other NSF PCL nodes.
• Coordinate cross-node meetings, workshops, conferences, and collaborative initiatives.
• Facilitate communication with NSF program officers, advisory boards, industry partners, and national laboratories.
• Support website updates, newsletters, annual reports, and communication activities promoting ATHENA nationally.

Other Duties as assigned (10%)

Required Qualifications

Education: Bachelor’s degree in business, public administration, communications, science, engineering, economic development, nonprofit management, or a related field.

Experience: Minimum of five years of progressively responsible experience in project, program, or research administration.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

• Strong project and program management skills.
• Knowledge of federal grant administration and NSF policies.
• Ability to manage complex multi-institutional research programs and large budgets.
• Excellent written, verbal, and interpersonal communication skills.
• Experience with project management software and collaboration tools.
• Exceptional organizational skills and attention to detail.

Applicants must be legally authorized to work in the United States on a full-time basis without need now or in the future for sponsorship for employment-based visa status.

Preferred Qualifications

Education: Master’s degree in Management, Business Administration, Public Administration, Accounting, Higher Education Administration, or a related field.

Experience:

• Experience managing federally funded research centers or multi-institutional programs.
• Experience overseeing multi-million-dollar budgets.
• Experience organizing scientific conferences and workshops.
• Project Management Professional (PMP) certification is desirable.

Working Location and Environment

• Knoxville, TN
• Office environment with occasional laboratory visits.
• Occasional evening meetings.
• Domestic travel (approximately 5-10%) for PCL coordination meetings, workshops, and annual conferences.

Compensation and Benefits

• UT market range: MR11

• Anticipated hiring range: $80,000 - $85,000

• Find more information on the UT Market Range structure here

• Find more information on UT Benefits here

Application Instructions

To express interest, please submit an application with the noted below attachments:

• Resume

• Cover Letter

Why Join ATHENA?

ATHENA is building a national platform that will transform materials research through AI, robotics, cloud-connected instrumentation, and autonomous experimentation. This position offers the opportunity to help lead one of the NSF’s premier national research infrastructure initiatives and work alongside world-leading researchers shaping the future of AI-enabled scientific discovery.

About the Tickle College of Engineering

The Tickle College of Engineering (TCE) is in the midst of an unprecedented period of growth and success, including adding over 30 new faculty to the college as part of ambitious hiring campaigns led by Chancellor Donde Plowman and Dean Matthew Mench. The college has set records in research expenditures, enrollment, incoming student GPA, diversity, intellectual property development, and U.S. News & World Report rank in the past three years. New facilities include the state-of-the-art Zeanah Engineering Complex, the University of Tennessee Manufacturing and Design Enterprise (TN-MADE) facility, and the Innovation South building now under construction that will house UTK’s Fibers and Composites Manufacturing Facility (FCMF).

TCE currently has 203 tenure/tenure-track and 79 non-tenure track faculty in its nine academic departments and offers 11 undergraduate, 16 M.S., and 15 Ph.D./DE degree programs. Affiliated with TCE and located in Tullahoma, Tennessee, the UT Space Institute is a hub of aerospace and defense research. The college is also home to eight research centers and three interdisciplinary institutes. With approximately 4,300 undergraduate and 1,500 graduate students, the college sits 29th among public universities in the most recent U.S. News and World Report graduate rankings. Faculty in the college have won 29 early career awards (NSF, DOE, DARPA, AFOSR, and ARO) since 2016. In FY24, the college had annual research expenditures of $113.6M.