Bachelor’s Level Research Assistant – Quantitative (Engineering, Computer Science, Data Science, Math, Statistics, etc.) (Term)

RAND•Washington, DC

1d•$50,600 - $69,500

About The Position

RAND is seeking highly motivated Research Assistants to work as members of multi-disciplinary research teams addressing complex policy problems. This posting is specifically looking for Bachelor’s level applicants with technical degrees that have interest in policy applications. Research Assistants work on a variety of research areas including science and technology policy, space policy, AI policy, human resource and workforce management in the military, national and homeland security issues, cyber security, and infrastructure issues. Research Assistants will work with teams of experienced researchers.

Requirements

Applicants should have excellent research and analysis skills demonstrated in coursework or work experience, solid technical and/or programming skills, the capacity to pick up new technical subjects quickly, the ability to communicate clearly and effectively, both orally and in writing, strong writing skills, and the ability to work effectively as a member of multi-disciplinary teams.
Must have proficiency to undertake research assignments with little supervision.
Applicants should have the competence to take initiative and have the ability to quickly gather, ingest and consolidate large amounts of information and data.
Successful candidates will be thoughtful, thorough, disciplined researchers able to work simultaneously on multiple projects and meet deadlines.
They must be highly motivated, organized, flexible, and demonstrate a strong commitment to RAND's core values of quality and objectivity.
Familiarity with Microsoft Office applications (Word, PowerPoint, Excel) is required.
This position is for Bachelor’s level applicants only.
A Bachelor's degree in astrophysics, computer science, data science, engineering, applied math, economics, statistics, operations research or similar technical degree with an interest in policy issues is required.
0-1 years of related research experience.
Candidates with interest in working on the national security issues must be able to obtain and maintain a U.S. government security clearance.

Nice To Haves

Proficiency in quantitative analysis tools and programming languages, with demonstrated experience in at least two of: statistical computing (R, Python), software development (C++, Java), data manipulation (SQL), machine learning frameworks (TensorFlow, PyTorch), and version control/deployment tools (Git, APIs)
Research assistant experience, either in an academic setting, in another research-oriented organization, or within a research unit of a public- or private-sector firm, or with related federal government agencies
Knowledge from coursework or experience with artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), deep learning (DL), natural language processing (NLP), large language models (LLMs), computing hardware, AI safety, cybersecurity tools, biosecurity

Responsibilities

Research Assistants provide quantitative and qualitative research support on tasks.
Research Assistants' tasks include data collection, preparation, and analysis (e.g., data extraction and merging, summary statistics and regression analysis, data visualization), support to modeling and simulation, computer programming, literature reviews, note-taking, writing, preparation of draft documents and presentations and coordination of work among project team members.
Research Assistants may travel with project teams and may have the opportunity to co-author reports and journal articles.