Postdoctoral Scholar, Department of Anthropology

About the role

The Department of Anthropology at The Pennsylvania State University invites applications for a Postdoctoral Scholar to investigate the relationship between oral health, race/ethnicity, and the human oral microbiome using the CDC National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES).

Responsibilities

• Analyze oral microbiome data from NHANES and related datasets to identify patterns linked to oral health outcomes and health disparities.
• Apply and develop bioinformatic pipelines, statistical models, and computational tools to assess associations between microbial composition, oral health status, race/ethnicity, and broader measures of health.
• Contribute to manuscripts, conference presentations, and grant applications in this research area.
• Collaborate across a team of faculty, postdocs, and students in anthropology, microbiology, and public health.
• Engage with broader discussions on the ethical and social dimensions of oral microbiome research, particularly in the context of health inequalities.

Requirements

• A Ph.D. in Anthropology, Microbiology, Epidemiology, Public Health, Biostatistics, Computational Biology, or a related field at the time of appointment.
• Demonstrated expertise in bioinformatics, statistics, microbiome data analysis, and/or computational methods.
• Experience working with large population-level datasets (e.g., NHANES data sets or other large-scale equivalent).
• A strong record of peer-reviewed publications and scientific communication.
• Commitment to research that integrates biological, social, and ethical perspectives on oral health.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience analyzing oral microbiome datasets (16S, shotgun metagenomics, or metatranscriptomics).
• Advanced programming and data science skills in R, Python, or other relevant languages.
• Familiarity with frameworks for studying race, racism, and health disparities.
• Experience developing reproducible pipelines and working in high-performance computing environments.

Qualifications

• A Ph.D. in Anthropology, Microbiology, Epidemiology, Public Health, Biostatistics, Computational Biology, or a related field at the time of appointment.
• Demonstrated expertise in bioinformatics, statistics, microbiome data analysis, and/or computational methods.
• Experience working with large population-level datasets (e.g., NHANES data sets or other large-scale equivalent).
• A strong record of peer-reviewed publications and scientific communication.
• Commitment to research that integrates biological, social, and ethical perspectives on oral health.

Skills

• Expertise in bioinformatics, statistics, microbiome data analysis, and/or computational methods.
• Experience working with large population-level datasets (e.g., NHANES data sets or other large-scale equivalent).
• A strong record of peer-reviewed publications and scientific communication.
• Commitment to research that integrates biological, social, and ethical perspectives on oral health.

Benefits

The College of the Liberal Arts is committed to offering professional growth and promotional opportunities for non-tenure-line faculty appointments. Information on faculty ranks and progression can be found at https://policy.psu.edu/policies/ac21.

Pay

This is a term position; length of the term will be discussed during the interview process. Continuation past the term length discussed will be based on university need, performance, and/or availability of funding.

Schedule

Approval of remote and hybrid work is not guaranteed regardless of work location. For additional information on remote work at Penn State, see Notice to Out of State Applicants.