Specialist - Research-Continuing

About the Role

This role involves facilitating advanced computational resources for researchers at MSU and Henry Ford Health, including direct user support, project development, and research activities. The position supports a hybrid work environment and typically works with researchers both in person and remotely. A successful applicant is expected to start in Fall 2026, though a later start date may be possible.

For consideration under this posting, a candidate must be a U.S. citizen. Michigan State University conducts criminal background checks and professional misconduct reviews for all applicants in faculty, academic staff, and executive management searches.

Responsibilities

• Engage and collaborate with MSU and Henry Ford Health researchers who use (or plan to use) advanced computational resources, including MSU’s High Performance Computing Center (HPCC), NSF ACCESS resources, high-throughput computing, and cloud computing.
• Facilitate the utilization of a high-security computing cluster for research involving restricted data (e.g., human medical data, export-controlled data).
• Support MSU HPCC users through one-on-one and small-group interactions, the HPCC Help Desk, and online or in-person office hours.
• Collaborate with researchers to develop proposals, papers, public datasets, and open-source software to conduct and disseminate research, including extended collaborative support efforts.
• Develop, implement, and refine training materials related to research computing and research data through workshops, web-based tutorials, and documentation.
• Engage with the broader national research computing effort through participation in workshops, conferences, and training and networking activities.

Requirements

• A PhD in any field that included a significant research computing component.
• Research experience applying advanced computing to solve research problems.
• Strong technical and problem-solving skills, including Linux command line experience and programming experience with a modern language such as R, Python, or C++.
• Strong verbal and written communication skills.
• U.S. citizenship.

Qualifications

Desired Qualifications: In addition to the required qualifications, the following are desired:

• Experience with computational research relating to human health (e.g., genomics, medical imaging).
• Experience with virtual machines (e.g., VirtualBox or Parallels Desktop), software containers (e.g., Docker, Singularity), and/or workflows using these tools.
• Experience developing research-focused software applications using modern tools such as version control and continuous integration.
• Experience developing data analysis and/or data management pipelines in high-level scripting languages.
• Experience managing or coordinating research software development projects, particularly in an open-source/community context.
• Experience using machine learning and/or artificial intelligence techniques to solve scientific problems (e.g., PyTorch, TensorFlow, Keras, scikit-learn, Hugging Face).
• Training or professional experience in research facilitation, conflict negotiation, communication, teamwork, leadership, and/or project management in multidisciplinary research teams.
• Experience with proposal development and/or coordination.

Professional Misconduct Review

A professional misconduct review is required for this position. Applicants must disclose any pending investigations, findings, or sanctions related to professional misconduct, including but not limited to theft, embezzlement, research integrity issues, discrimination, harassment, sexual misconduct, or retaliation. All applicants will sign an authorization and release allowing the University to contact current and former employers (within the last 7 years) regarding such matters if the candidate reaches the semi-finalist stage. The existence of professional misconduct history does not automatically exclude a candidate; the University will assess compatibility with the position.