About the role#
The Digital Twins and Scalable Workflows group is looking for a graduate student researcher to analyze data center power, specifically focusing on the electrical behavior of AI workloads. As AI drives growth in data center electricity demand, the sub-second power swings of GPU workloads present challenges for grid stability. This project measures the electrical power of GPU racks on the Kestrel supercomputer to build models that predict power behavior for unmeasured workloads.
What you'll do#
- Review power measurements from AI workload experiments to identify anomalies and data quality issues using an interactive visualization workbench.
- Hand-label power ramps, load steps, and other critical events while identifying regions that show characteristic workload behavior.
- Investigate unexplained behavior by correlating power measurements with GPU telemetry, profiling data, job logs, and system configuration.
- Design, build, and evaluate an automated detector for power ramps and anomalies using your labeled data.
- Present results and contribute to technical reports, papers, and conference presentations.
What you'll need#
- Minimum 3.0 cumulative GPA.
- Full-time student status in a bachelor’s or master’s program, or having earned those degrees within the past 12 months, or enrollment as a PhD student after completing a master’s degree.
- Experience analyzing time-series or signal data.
- Programming experience in Python for data analysis.
- Familiarity with GPU computing, AI/ML workloads, or HPC systems.
- Experience with machine learning for classification or detection.
- Background in power systems or electrical measurements.
- Experience with data labeling, annotation, or data quality review.
- Ability to work independently, raise questions early, and follow a structured review process with attention to detail.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
Location & details#
- Location: Golden, Colorado.
- Modality: On-site.
- Employment: Full-time, paid internship.
- Note: All candidates must be authorized to access the facility per Department of Energy rules and must be able to obtain a federal Personal Identity Verification card.
About National Renewable Energy Laboratory
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory operates as the primary national laboratory for the United States Department of Energy focused on energy systems research. Founded in 1977, the organization conducts research in energy efficiency, basic science, and energy security. It maintains a staff of approximately 3,751 employees. The laboratory is based in Golden, Colorado.
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