Postdoctoral Associate in Transportation Systems, Safety, and Human Factors

University of Florida • Gainesville, FL

3d

About The Position

The Postdoctoral Associate will conduct research related to transportation systems, safety, and accessibility. The position involves reviewing and synthesizing research, technical standards, and agency practices; developing experimental designs, research protocols, performance measures, sampling approaches, and statistical analysis plans; and supporting controlled test environments and field evaluations involving transportation technologies, infrastructure, and user behavior.

The role includes developing and applying methods for instrumentation, data acquisition, event logging, video analysis, and system-performance measurement. The postdoctoral associate will support human-factors and pedestrian research, including study procedures, IRB documentation, recruitment coordination, and participant activities under approved protocols and appropriate specialist supervision. They will analyze engineering and behavioral data using reproducible methods that address repeated observations, measurement uncertainty, missing data, and data quality.

The postdoctoral associate will prepare technical reports, peer-reviewed manuscripts, presentations, implementation guidance, and practitioner training materials. They will coordinate activities with faculty, staff, agency partners, and technical specialists; mentor student and hourly research assistants; support consistent data-collection and quality-control practices; participate in research mentoring and professional development; and contribute to related funding proposals and research initiatives. Periodic travel within Florida and participation in approved laboratory and field research activities are expected. The anticipated start date is negotiable, subject to University hiring requirements and available funding.

Requirements

• Earned doctorate by the appointment start date in civil or transportation engineering, electrical or computer engineering, industrial or systems engineering, human factors, experimental psychology, computer science, or a closely related field appropriate to the assigned research.
• Demonstrated experience conducting quantitative research and analyzing experimental, observational, or engineering data.
• Proficiency in at least one analytical or programming environment, such as Python, R, MATLAB, or equivalent software.
• Demonstrated technical writing and communication skills.
• Ability to work independently and collaboratively within a multidisciplinary research team.

Nice To Haves

• Experience with traffic signal operations, intelligent transportation systems, transportation safety, vehicle detection, or traffic simulation.
• Experience with instrumentation, synchronized measurements, data acquisition, networked sensing, or camera-based system evaluation.
• Experience in human factors, pedestrian behavior, accessibility, wayfinding, or evaluating transportation infrastructure from a user perspective.
• Experience with human-subject research, IRB processes, participant recruitment, and accessible research procedures.
• Experience with experimental design, repeated-measures or mixed-effects analysis, sampling methods, and measurement uncertainty.
• Experience with video processing, computer vision, automated event extraction, or behavioral observation.
• Experience developing controlled testbeds and conducting field data collection.
• Experience preparing research publications, agency reports, technical manuals, or implementation guidance.
• Experience collaborating with public agencies, industry partners, or accessibility practitioners.
• Experience mentoring research assistants and coordinating concurrent research activities.

Responsibilities

• Conduct literature reviews and synthesize research, technical standards, and agency practices relevant to transportation systems, safety, and accessibility.
• Develop experimental designs, research protocols, performance measures, sampling approaches, and statistical analysis plans.
• Support development and operation of controlled test environments and field evaluations involving transportation technologies, infrastructure, and user behavior.
• Develop and apply methods for instrumentation, data acquisition, event logging, video analysis, and measurement of system performance.
• Support human-factors and pedestrian research, including study procedures, IRB documentation, recruitment coordination, and participant activities under approved protocols and appropriate specialist supervision.
• Analyze engineering and behavioral data using reproducible methods that address repeated observations, measurement uncertainty, missing data, and data quality.
• Prepare technical reports, peer-reviewed manuscripts, presentations, implementation guidance, and practitioner training materials.
• Coordinate research activities with collaborating faculty, staff, agency partners, and technical specialists.
• Mentor student and hourly research assistants and support consistent data-collection and quality-control practices.
• Participate in research mentoring and professional development, and contribute to related funding proposals and research initiatives.
• Participate in periodic travel within Florida and approved laboratory and field research activities.

What This Job Offers

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