Research Assistant (Junior Specialist) @ UC Davis

Dr. Lisa Oakes with the Center for Mind and Brain at the University of California, Davis seeks to fill a research assistant position at the Junior Specialist level starting as soon as June 1, 2021, depending on funding. This is a 100% position and is for one year. There may be a possibility for extension depending on funding. The successful candidate will participate in all aspects of research in cognitive development in infancy and early childhood, from stimulus creation to data analysis to presentation of research findings in seminars, conferences, and manuscripts submitted for publication. The position will involve developing, in collaboration with the PI and grad students, new experimental designs, stimuli, and procedures. The person hired is expected to independently analyze data, create materials for presentation at conferences, and present research at national and international conferences, such as the biennial meeting of the International Congress of Infant Studies in Ottawa in July 2022.
 

The position will include the following academic duties:

The junior specialist will be actively and significantly involved in publishable research activities. Their roles and duties will include (80%):

Designing research and developing research materials

• Read original literature related on infant cognitive development and participate in weekly discussions of recent and classic findings, as well as methodological and theoretical issues.
• Participate in meetings and discussions with the PI and graduate students to make decisions about experimental design, stimulus creation, and development of materials and experimental protocols.
• Prepare stimulus and other experimental materials using Matlab, Python, Photoshop, or other software and programming environments

Conducting research

• Participate in data collection by interviewing and obtaining consent from parents and by testing infant and child research participants, both observing behavior in the moment and using automatic eye-tracking systems
• Oversee the day-to-day running of the lab, including prepare and maintaining IRB materials and ensuring compliance with those protocols, ordering supplies, and other miscellaneous tasks

Disseminating the results of research

• Use R, Matlab, excel, and SPSS to process and analyze data, prepare figures and text for presentation at research conferences and for manuscripts to be submitted for publication
• Contribute to the writing of manuscripts and preparation of conference presentations

The Junior Specialist will be engaged in presenting the results of work at national and international societies and in preparing manuscripts for publication (5%):

• The Junior Specialist will attend national and international conferences, held by major professional societies. In April 2022, the Junior Specialist may attend the biennial meeting of the Cognitive Development Society in Madison, WI, and in July 2022 the Junior Specialist may attend the biennial meeting of the International Congress on Infant Studies in Ottawa, Canada. If appropriate, the Junior Specialist will present research at one or both of these conferences.
• As appropriate, the junior specialist will participate in the preparation of manuscripts for publication. This may involve creation of figures, writing of procedure and methods, reporting of statistics, and contribution to other sections of manuscripts.

The Junior Specialist will be actively involved in service to the university through training and mentoring undergraduate students, and public service through the dissemination of information about infant cognitive development through forums such as facebook and twitter (15%):

• The Junior Specialist will train and mentor undergraduate students in experimental procedures, data collection, and coding of behavior from video.
• The Junior Specialist will train and mentor undergraduate students in data processing, analysis, and visualization
• The Junior Specialist will contribute to a facebook page, twitter account, and Instagram account all designed to disseminate information about research findings and to promote scientists in the field to a broad audience. These social media efforts are targeted at providing a resource for parents and for students.

Position qualifications include:

Required: Bachelor’s degree in Psychology or related field, experience with human subjects in a laboratory setting, knowledge of excel, experience with programming environments such as matlab, python, or R, strong organizational skills and attention to detail.
Preferred: Experience with testing infants or young children in behavioral research, knowledge of experimental methods to study early cognitive development, experience with and knowledge of infrared automatic eye-tracking systems, familiarity with human subjects protocols, experience conducting interview or consenting potential research participants, knowledge of most or all of the following software: R, SPSS, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Director, Filemaker, Matlab and/or Python.

Applicants should submit a cover letter of interest describing relevant skills, a statement of contributions to diversity, a C.V., and provide contact information for 2-3 referees. Submit application materials here: https://recruit.ucdavis.edu/JPF04078.

The position will remain open until filled. For full consideration, please apply by April 7, 2021. Starting salary is $44,500 annually plus benefits. If hired, a background check is required

The University of California is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, age or protected veteran status. For the complete University of California nondiscrimination and affirmative action policy see: http://policy.ucop.edu/doc/4000376/NondiscrimAffirmAct.

Under Federal law, the University of California may employ only individuals who are legally able to work in the United States as established by providing documents as specified in the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986. Certain UCSC positions funded by federal contracts or sub-contracts require the selected candidate to pass an E-Verify check. More information is available http://www.uscis.gov/e-verify.

UC Davis is a smoke & tobacco-free campus (http://breathefree.ucdavis.edu/).

If you need accommodation due to a disability, please contact the recruiting department.

Questions: Please direct any questions to ycpersonnel@ucdavis.edu.