Open Rank - Research Faculty

About the role

Virginia Tech Transportation Institute (VTTI) is seeking a qualified and ambitious researcher with a strong background in either Engineering/Psychology with Lighting or Visibility specialization and Human Factors experience or Engineering/Statistics with safety analysis and/or transportation safety specialization including but not limited to degrees in Civil Engineering, Transportation Engineering, Human Factors etc. The ideal candidate will contribute to research conceptualization, proposal development, and resource acquisition as well as interact with sponsors, interpret findings, prepare reports, and present results.

Responsibilities

• Assist in the development of proposals and research plans
• Research and assist in the compositions of literature reviews
• Help organize, attend, and participate in project meetings
• Coordinate and collaborate with subcontractors and interface with stakeholders and sponsors as required
• Analyze data including preparing SAS, Matlab, ArcGIS and SQL analyses
• Interpret results and develop robust conclusions
• Directions Given And Received: Work with peers, research assistants, undergrad students, technicians and support staff to coordinate project tasks. Must be able to work effectively independently with oversight as well as within multidisciplinary project teams as appropriate.

Qualifications

• Research Associate rank: Master’s degree in Engineering/Statistics with safety analysis and/or transportation safety specialization including but not limited to degree in Civil Engineering, Transportation Engineering, Human Factors, etc.
• Senior Research Associate rank: PhD in Engineering/Statistics with safety analysis and/or transportation safety specialization including but not limited degrees in Civil Engineering, Transportation Engineering, Human Factors etc. (candidates with an advanced degree and significant experience in lieu of PhD may be considered).
• General: Excellent communications and organizational skills, Strong experience in transportation safety related research or lighting and visibility research, Ability to lead project teams and oversee project schedule, budgets, and deliverables, Demonstrated strong writing and organizational skills, Solid understanding of engineering principles needed to analyze, verify, and interpret work, Strong GIS based Data Analysis experience, Strong statistical methods including experience in the analysis of large-scale data sets from multiple sources using a variety of tools including but not limited to SAS, MatLab, ArcGIS, SQL Server

Preferred Qualifications

• Knowledge on transportation safety tools such as the highway safety manual, the manual on traffic control devices, Illuminating Engineering Recommended Practices, crash modification factors, safety performance functions, and strategic safety plans is extremely desirable.
• Previous project management experience including coordinate technicians, researchers, undergraduate and graduate level students.