Research Coordinator Position @ University of Minnesota, Twin Cities MN

The University of Minnesota’s Institute of Child Development (ICD) has a position open for a full-time Research Coordinator. This position is funded by a National Science Foundation (NSF) grant, Aligning Measurement of Personal Attributes for Predicting STEM Education Outcomes. This project is a collaboration between the ICD (Dr. Stephanie Carlson) and the University of Chicago’s Center for the Economics of Human Development (Dr. James Heckman), together with Educational Testing Service (ETS; Dr. Patrick Kyllonen) and the University of Bonn (Dr. Thomas Dohmen). The project aims to measure and model a combination of personality traits, executive function skills, and economic preferences to predict student achievement and interest in STEM fields. This is a longitudinal study beginning in 4th and 8th grade and includes remote surveys with children and caregivers, as well as cognitive and behavioral tasks in the lab. We seek applicants with prior experience working with child or adolescent populations and with participant recruitment, as well as behavioral/clinical research experience.

The Research Coordinator will report to Dr. Stephanie Carlson. Duties will include IRB management, participant recruitment and screening, informed consent and assent, cognitive and behavioral assessment, database management, and onboarding and supervision of undergraduate research assistants. The position has funding for 3 or 4 years, contingent upon a 6-month probationary period and successful completion of duties.

Responsibilities:

• Recruitment of child and adolescent participants (30%)
  • Complete Human Subjects ethics training
  • Understand the research and recruitment process sufficiently to design and improve process & methods
  • Oversee recruitment of participants for studies, including training personnel to recruit and tracking progress.
  • Conduct telephone and/or recruitment of child participants by calling/contacting families that have indicated an interest in participating in this or other research projects (“warm calling”)
  • Screen confidential health information for assessment of inclusion and exclusion criteria to assess study eligibility
  • Develop rapport with children and families to ensure a positive research experience
  • Draft correspondence and send participant emails and/or mailing packets
  • Schedule, update, and cancel appointments with children, families, and adults participating in the research study using multiple online calendar systems. 
  • Manage & track recruiting & scheduling process; Develop processes to gain efficiency while maintaining adherence to research protocol.
  • Gather, organize, and maintain research data results.
  • Organize and track study files (electronically and by paper) including participant appointment information, calling log, and files to be sent to family such as welcome letter and directions
  • Learn and follow all participant recruitment reporting requirements for the study using online reporting tools.
  • Determine the balance of adherence to specified research protocol with development of improvement in process to achieve goals.
  • Communicate effectively with the Project Coordinator and Principal Investigators on a regular basis regarding recruitment, scheduling, and assessment progress and any or all issues related to job responsibilities.
• Data collection (30%)
  • Complete required ethics training for research with human subjects, as well as biospecimen and MRI safety training.
  • Obtain informed consent and assent from adolescent participants and parents.
  • Reliably administer research-based behavioral tasks to adolescents, including mock-MRI simulations and the Trier Social Stress Task (a standardized speech & math stressor).
  • Assist participants in completing computerized questionnaires using REDCap software.
  • Collect, label, and manage biospecimen samples from adolescents (saliva, hair, blood).
  • Escort participants to and from the MRI scanner.
  • Escort participants through the clinic stations where technicians will conduct blood draws, body composition assessments, pubertal development exams, and cardiovascular assessments.
  • Use computer software programs including Microsoft Office, REDCap, University Box, and Adobe Acrobat to manage documentation and track study progress.
  • Ensure protection and storage of data and participant information on secure servers.
  • Work regular evening and weekend shifts as needed to test participants.
• Data Management (20%)
  • Support the Graduate Research Assistant who will be overseeing data coding, scoring, and analysis
  • Learn and follow best practices in data organization and processing streams
  • Train and supervise undergraduate research assistants
  • Ensure reliable and timely completion of data coding and cleaning
  • Perform quality control/quality assurance procedures
  • Adhere to data security and privacy practices
  • Create tables and figures as directed for project meetings, conference presentations, and publications
• General Laboratory Support/Coordination (20%)
  • Develop processes to mentor and train undergraduate research assistants in participant recruitment, data collection, and research ethics with child and adolescent participants. 
  • Support graduate students and lab staff in tracking and monitoring undergraduate research hours.
  • Develop standard operating procedures (SOPs) for general lab tasks to support training of new lab personnel and transfer of expertise to new staff.
  • Coordinate lab and project meetings among lab personnel.
  • Take notes at research meetings and track agenda items. 
  • Update and monitor lab web resources to document study materials, current staff, undergraduate research assistants, and provide research resources to the public.
  • Work with lab staff and graduate students to develop a regular lab newsletter to be sent to past research participants.
  • Assist the lab in conducting internal audits of IRB materials and research data collection on multiple projects.
  • Work with current and past lab members to document and organize study materials and data resources in electronic format.
  • Work with department staff to address facility needs or information technology needs in the lab.
  • Identify areas for improvement in functioning in the lab and work with the Principal Investigator to develop and implement improvement plans.
  • Assisting PI with lab-wide coordination
  • Communicating with study coordinators, lab trainees, and collaborators
  • Maintaining lab-wide documentation (lab meeting minutes, lab SOP, etc).
  • Coordinating and running lab meetings with PI’s assistance
  • Onboarding new employees and volunteers
  • Purchasing lab-wide materials and ensuring compliance with purchasing procedures/documentation. 
  • Acquire familiarity with LORIS database, including tasks such as entering data, performing queries, examining quality control metrics, and extracting data for analyses
  • Undergraduate RA supervision regarding data entry
  • Undergraduate RA supervision for and coordination of “sib-sitting” if needed for parents
  • Coordinate annual newsletter for families who have participated in ELAB studies
  • Assisting the PI with planning and coordination of lab events
  • Communicate with Information Technology support staff regarding project needs
  • Provide support to faculty and staff preparing manuscripts and conference presentations, including literature searches, article summaries, formatting of text and references, construction of tables and figures, and typographical editing

Qualifications

Required

• BA/BS with at least 2 years of experience or a combination of related education and work experience to equal 6 years.
• Ability to collaborate effectively with people from a variety of communities, backgrounds, and identities.

Preferred 

• Coursework in child psychology, psychology, educational psychology, social work, or family social science
• At least two-years research experience in a laboratory setting, conducting participant recruitment, telephone screening, and/or informed consent/assent with child or adolescent participants
• Experience conducting consent process and collecting data over a Zoom platform.
• Ability to manage multiple tasks on a daily basis
• Excellent organizational, communication, and interpersonal skills, including attention to detail and documentation of work
• Ability to work both independently and collaboratively, including communication with study faculty, junior and senior research staff, and individual families and children
• Comfort with standard computer resources, including email, web searching, document and spreadsheet software, PDF files, and web-based calendars
• Prior experience using REDCap and Zoom software
• Facility with Qualtrics
• Prior experience building and maintaining rapport with families in the context of longitudinal research 
• Strong written and spoken language skills
• Demonstrable leadership ability
• Comfortable interacting with children and their parents
• Demonstrated ability to be personable, flexible, and well-organized
• Interest in learning/training in clinical/behavioral assessment for children
• Ability to work well with diverse populations
• Willingness to work flexible hours including evenings and weekends to accommodate family schedules
• Demonstrable experience working collaboratively in a team setting

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