What are the responsibilities and job description for the Laboratory Manager position at The University of Kansas?
Position Overview
The Laboratory Manager will play a support role for faculty in all Mechanical Engineering laboratories, in collaboration with other staff, including but not limited to materials testing and experimental measurements laboratories, teaching and research laboratories, and laboratories affiliated with cornerstone (freshman) and capstone (senior) projects. Specific job responsibilities include: 1) Assist faculty members with teaching needs for laboratory courses in Mechanical Engineering.; 2) Purchase, maintain, and calibrate equipment for all Mechanical Engineering teaching labs, including integrating computer data acquisition and control systems with test equipment under the direction of the Department Chair.; 3) Assist capstone teams with project testing and data acquisition needs.; 4) Assist faculty with the maintenance of research equipment in faculty labs upon request.; 5) Establish and maintain appropriate safety protocols in both teaching and research laboratories.; and 6) Conduct the departmental inventory and space control assessment under the supervision and direction of the Department Chair.
Due to federal funding and guidelines for the research and laboratories that this position will have access and be responsible for, the successful candidate must be a U.S. citizen, permanent resident, or possess an equivalent status that permits work with federally funded projects pertaining to confidential and sensitive information.
Job Description
50% - Coordinate Undergraduate Mechanical Engineering Lab Activities
Preferred Qualifications
In addition to the online application, the following documents are required to be considered for this position:
Contact Information to Applicants
Lisa Friis
lfriis@ku.edu
Advertised Salary Range
Minimum $65,000; commensurate with experience
Application Review Begins
Monday April 27, 2026
Anticipated Start Date
Monday May 18, 2026
The Laboratory Manager will play a support role for faculty in all Mechanical Engineering laboratories, in collaboration with other staff, including but not limited to materials testing and experimental measurements laboratories, teaching and research laboratories, and laboratories affiliated with cornerstone (freshman) and capstone (senior) projects. Specific job responsibilities include: 1) Assist faculty members with teaching needs for laboratory courses in Mechanical Engineering.; 2) Purchase, maintain, and calibrate equipment for all Mechanical Engineering teaching labs, including integrating computer data acquisition and control systems with test equipment under the direction of the Department Chair.; 3) Assist capstone teams with project testing and data acquisition needs.; 4) Assist faculty with the maintenance of research equipment in faculty labs upon request.; 5) Establish and maintain appropriate safety protocols in both teaching and research laboratories.; and 6) Conduct the departmental inventory and space control assessment under the supervision and direction of the Department Chair.
Due to federal funding and guidelines for the research and laboratories that this position will have access and be responsible for, the successful candidate must be a U.S. citizen, permanent resident, or possess an equivalent status that permits work with federally funded projects pertaining to confidential and sensitive information.
Job Description
50% - Coordinate Undergraduate Mechanical Engineering Lab Activities
- Coordinate undergraduate mechanical engineering teaching laboratory activities under the supervision of a faculty member
- Establish and/or maintain appropriate safety protocols in teaching laboratories.
- Assist faculty members in teaching and/or training of graduate teaching assistants for instruction of laboratory courses, as needed.
- Assist faculty members in setting up and dismantling hardware for both required and elective mechanical engineering laboratory courses.
- Assist faculty members and graduate teaching assistants who teach mechanical engineering courses with in-lecture demonstrations.
- Assist faculty in developing multimedia and technology resources for undergraduate laboratory courses and demonstration experiments, such as but not limited to the collection of data from remotely-located experiments and the analysis of the data in classroom settings.
- Assist students and faculty advisors in the operation of experiments, devices, and prototypes in cornerstone (freshman) and capstone (senior) design courses.
- Manage department technical laboratory staff and department teaching laboratory resources under the direction of the Department Chair
- Train mechanical engineering staff persons or students on the use of equipment.
- Assist faculty members in the training of Graduate Teaching and Research Assistants to use laboratory equipment.
- Collaborate with the departmental accountant to track teaching laboratory expenses.
- Order, install, and troubleshoot new and/or existing teaching laboratory equipment under the direction of the Department Chair.
- Coordinate access to and documentation of department resources and utilization through an online system.
- Assist student researchers in troubleshooting and maintaining equipment in research laboratories under the request and direction of the laboratory principal investigators, with approval of the Department Chair.
- Assist faculty members and the department staff in the setup, maintenance, and renovation of departmental laboratory spaces under the direction of the Department Chair.
- Other duties and projects as assigned by the Department Chair.
- Must be a United States citizen, permanent resident, or possess an equivalent status that permits working with confidential and sensitive information in engineering.
- Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering or closely related field, and 2 years of relevant experience directly related to the job description OR a Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering or closely related field.
- Minimum of 1 year of demonstrated experience in the use of a programming language, such as but not limited to MATLAB or C .
- Minimum of 1 year of experience in data collection and analysis.
- Minimum of 1 year of demonstrated experience in specifying and using instrumentation involving mechanical systems, electro-mechanical systems, and/or thermal-mechanical systems.
- Ability to communicate effectively, as demonstrated in application materials.
Preferred Qualifications
- M.S. or Ph.D. degree in Mechanical Engineering or closely related field, with a minimum of 3 years of relevant, hands-on experience directly related to the job description.
- 3 years of experience programming with MATLAB.
- 3 years of experience programming with LabVIEW.
- Training & certification from National Instruments.
- 2 years of experience in a research environment.
- 2 years of experience managing other employees.
- 2 years of experience using additive manufacturing hardware and software.
In addition to the online application, the following documents are required to be considered for this position:
- cover letter describing how you meet the required and preferred qualifications
- resume
- list of three professional references
Contact Information to Applicants
Lisa Friis
lfriis@ku.edu
Advertised Salary Range
Minimum $65,000; commensurate with experience
Application Review Begins
Monday April 27, 2026
Anticipated Start Date
Monday May 18, 2026
Salary : $65,000