Junior Specialist- Hastings Lab

Dr. Paul Hastings at the Center for Mind and Brain seek to fill a full-time position at the Junior Specialist level starting September 1 2025. This position is full-time (100% appointment, 40 hours/week) for one year with the possibility of a second year.

Educational Background: The successful candidate will have completed an undergraduate degree in Psychology, Human Development, Physiology, or a related field, and will have experience collecting and working with human physiological data (i.e., electrocardiography, ECG; impedance cardiography, IMP; electrodermal activity, EDA).

Reporting: The junior specialist will work under the supervision of Dr. Paul Hastings.

Position Description: The junior specialist will work on the study titled "Conceived, Gestated, Born, and Raised amidst Conflict and Displacement: A Longitudinal Prenatal and Early Years Cohorts Study of Intergenerational Risk and Resilience of Rohingya in Displacement (iRRRd)". Responsibilities will include coordinating data transfer between international data collection sites and UC Davis; processing physiological data; training of colleagues, staff and students at UC Davis and international sites in physiological data processing; revising plans for future data collection activities involving parents and preschool-aged children; collecting and reviewing journal articles in developmental psychophysiology and global human development; management of article database in Zotero; engaging in discussions on research and the interpretation of research results; assisting with preparation of grant proposals in support of additional research; contributing to reports of results as publications in scholarly journals (e.g., Child Development) and/or presentations at conferences (e.g., Society for Research in Child Development), with potential for authorship credits and/or lead author/presenter roles; and university service in the form of undergraduate student supervision. Responsibilities may include learning to conduct statistical analyses in R, SPSS, and/or MPlus; refining and debugging code in R scripts; travel to New York and/or Bangladesh for working directly with team members and research participants; working on other studies and datasets for the purpose of conference presentation or manuscript preparation, contingent on interests and the pace of the primary research responsibilities.

Responsibilities may include:

Research 50%

*Develop and/or coordinate procedures for international collaborative processing of data; facilitate activities of colleagues in remote locations.

*Participate in weekly discussions of relevant literature, and conduct literature reviews relevant to the work being conducted

*Attend live or remote conferences to present the results of the research.

*Conduct independent and/or collaborative data analysis.

*Contribute to the writing and preparation of manuscripts for publication.

*Train students and staff in Davis, Bangladesh and/or New York on physiological and/or neuroimaging data collection procedures with participants (i.e., children, adolescents, pregnant women).

*Train team members live and remotely on processing and preparation of physiological data.

*Processing of physiological data to provide feedback to data collection team in Bangladesh about quality of data and improving procedure administration.

Professional Competence 30%

*Monitoring lab supplies, ordering supplies as needed.

*Preparing and maintaining IRB materials and ensuring compliance with those protocols.

*Preparing figures and text for presentation at research conferences and for manuscripts to be submitted for publication.

University and Public Service 20%

*Train and mentor undergraduate students on data coding and analyses protocols.

* A Bachelor's degree in psychology or neuroscience.

* Prior experience working with cardiac physiological data.

* Availability to work flexible job hours.

* Excellent interpersonal skills and strong writing skills.

* Excellent organizational and time management skills.

* Proficiency in typical software used in research (Microsoft Excel & Word, Google Calendar, Google Voicemail).

* Experience with statistical analysis (e.g., using R)

* Previous research experience with Mindware hardware and ACQ, HRV, IMP and EDA software

* Hands-on data collection with human research participants.

• 2-3 letters of reference required

As a condition of employment, the finalist will be required to disclose if they are subject to any final administrative or judicial decisions within the last seven years determining that they committed any misconduct, are currently being investigated for misconduct, left a position during an investigation for alleged misconduct, or have filed an appeal with a previous employer.

• "Misconduct" means any violation of the policies or laws governing conduct at the applicant's previous place of employment, including, but not limited to, violations of policies or laws prohibiting sexual harassment, sexual assault, or other forms of harassment, discrimination, dishonesty, or unethical conduct, as defined by the employer.
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• APM - 035: Affirmative Action and Nondiscrimination in Employment

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