PHI Postdoctoral Research Associate Youth-Nex

UVA Health System • Newcomb Hall, VA

249d • $60,000 - $65,000

About The Position

The University of Virginia School of Education and Human Development's Center to Promote Effective Youth Development (Youth-Nex) is seeking highly qualified applicants for a one-year Postdoctoral Research Associate position, with the possibility of extension based on an annual basis dependent upon satisfactory performance and the availability of funding. This position is part of the Preventive Interventions Team: Collaborative Research on Engagement and Wellbeing (PIT-CREW), which conducts research related to promoting effective youth development, intervention, and programming, including preventing behavioral and mental health problems in schools. This position is funded by the UVA Precision Health Initiative (PHI), with a focus on using the tools of precision health to improve outcomes and reduce disparities for communities and populations. Candidates will receive mentorship and training in precision health, including advanced statistical methods focused on predictive modeling in relation to response to preventive interventions, decision support to implement mental health interventions, longitudinal data analysis, machine learning/NLP/AI, integrative data analysis, and related grant writing. This candidate would work under the mentorship of Dr. Catherine Bradshaw, and collaborate on methodologically intensive studies with Drs. Lex Budavari and Ali Ünlü.

Requirements

• Doctoral degree in a research-oriented field, such as Research/Statistics/Evaluation, Public Health, Data Science, Prevention Science, Clinical/School Psychology, Education, Psychology, or a related field is required by the start date of the position.
• Content expertise in areas such as mental health, screening, rural and/or urban K-12 school settings, school climate, multi-tiered systems of support, positive behavior support, social emotional learning, implementation science, school-based intervention, teacher professional development and coaching, and implementation/coaching supports.
• Statistical expertise in two or more areas: ML/NLP, integrative data analysis, SEM, latent class analysis, GGM, longitudinal data analysis, multilevel analysis.
• Methods expertise in one or more areas: Research-practice partnerships; conducting applied research in school settings; randomized controlled trials.
• Administrative expertise: Proficient with Box, Google Suite, Microsoft Suite (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Teams), Zoom, and ability to learn new statistical software quickly.

Nice To Haves

• Prior experience working with large datasets and cutting-edge statistical methods.
• Knowledge or interest in mental/behavioral health prevention in schools, strategies to identify students in need of mental health services, and evidence-based programs.

Responsibilities

• Analyzing data collected through the implementation of the Coping Power Rural Program, Double Check Online program, Integrative Data Analysis Projects, the mental health screening of students, and related evidence-based programs within the PIT CREW and National Center for Rural School Mental Health.
• Run advanced quantitative analyses using software such as Stata, R, Mplus, HLM, and/or SPSS.
• Generate research questions for analysis utilizing quantitative data collected from prior trials of prevention programs and frameworks like PBIS, Double Check, Coping Power, MTSS-B, and the R-CITY model.
• Lead and co-author papers for submission to peer-reviewed journals.
• Communicate research findings at key conferences (e.g., Society for Prevention Research, Society for Research in Child Development, American Association for Public Health, Society for Research on Adolescence, etc.).
• Contribute to submission of federal and private grant proposals including to funders (e.g., current and prior funders include Institute of Education Sciences, National Institutes of Health, William T. Grant Foundation, etc.).
• Support the data use agreements for ongoing projects, which may include research activities related to obtaining, modifying, and continuing institutional review board approval (IRB), communicating with local district and collaborating sites and school partners.
• Contribute to the intellectual environment of the broader PIT-CREW team and Precision Health Initiative by keeping current on recent scientific studies and relevant advanced quantitative methods, and regularly attending and presenting findings at lab meetings.
• Providing near-peer-mentorship to PhD students and other early-career-scholars on the research team.
• Support the team with data cleaning, project management, and grant submission tasks as needed.
• Other tasks include various writing and content creation (e.g., research briefs to research and school partners), technical assistance, and presentations.

Benefits

• Anticipated Hiring Range: $60,000-$65,000 (commensurate with qualifications).
• For more information on the benefits available to postdoctoral associates at UVA, visit postdoc.virginia.edu and https://hr.virginia.edu/benefits.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Entry Level
• Industry: Hospitals
• Education Level: Ph.D. or professional degree