Postdoctoral Scholar

About the role

The Research Translation Platform invites applications for a Postdoctoral Scholar interested in a career at the research-policy nexus supporting the evaluation and analytic needs of strategies for translating scientific evidence to policymakers.

Responsibilities

• Design the plan for and analyze observational and survey data regarding policymakers’ or researchers’ engagement in boundary-spanning initiatives, including longitudinal and multi-level analyses
• Extract, transform, clean, and maintain data from a variety of sources
• Contribute to the development of analytic plans for grants and publications
• Support analytic needs for grant writing and reporting (e.g., power analyses; interim impact analyses)
• Mentor undergraduate- and graduate-level interns and fellows on developing and executing analytic plans
• Meet with legislators or staff to collect survey data
• Support research planning by setting milestone goals and incremental internal deadlines to achieve goals

Requirements

• Completion of all requirements for the Ph.D. at the time of appointment; applicants may have their degrees from any department, but degrees in psychology, public health, human development, public policy, social work, or prevention science will be particularly good fits for the program.
• Preference will be given to applicants in Virginia within commuting distance of Washington, D.C. to support in-person data collection from congressional staff

Qualifications

• Excellent analytic abilities and advanced statistical modeling skills (e.g., longitudinal, multi-level, overdispersed) of large, messy datasets
• Proficient with statistical programming software and languages (e.g. SAS, STATA, or R)
• Excellent attention to detail
• Applied research experience, such as large administrative datasets or real-world data
• Enthusiasm and commitment to accelerating the translation of science to policy, including learning key theories in the area of study
• Curiosity and a generalist attitude with interest in diverse social policy issues
• Ability to work on multiple simultaneous projects and prioritize work based on project scope, organizational need, and timeline
• Strong diplomatic communication and interpersonal skills
• Strong communication skills, such as seeking input early in design and escalating threats or problems to PIs
• Ensuring quality control of data collection, and alerting PIs as needed
• Substantial scholarly writing and presentation experience
• Bipartisan mindset and ability to interpret findings from multiple viewpoints

Skills

• Excellent analytic abilities and advanced statistical modeling skills (e.g., longitudinal, multi-level, overdispersed) of large, messy datasets
• Proficient with statistical programming software and languages (e.g. SAS, STATA, or R)
• Excellent attention to detail
• Applied research experience, such as large administrative datasets or real-world data
• Enthusiasm and commitment to accelerating the translation of science to policy, including learning key theories in the area of study
• Curiosity and a generalist attitude with interest in diverse social policy issues
• Ability to work on multiple simultaneous projects and prioritize work based on project scope, organizational need, and timeline
• Strong diplomatic communication and interpersonal skills
• Strong communication skills, such as seeking input early in design and escalating threats or problems to PIs
• Ensuring quality control of data collection, and alerting PIs as needed
• Substantial scholarly writing and presentation experience
• Bipartisan mindset and ability to interpret findings from multiple viewpoints

Benefits

Penn State provides a competitive benefits package for full-time employees designed to support both personal and professional well-being. For more detailed information, please visit our Benefits Page.

Pay

TBD

Schedule

TBD