Postdoctoral Scholar, Department of Anthropology

Penn State University • Benner Township, PA

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About The Position

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). This NIH-funded position will focus on understanding how oral microbial communities mediate differences in oral and systemic health using an evolutionary health framework. There will be a specific emphasis on applying advanced bioinformatics and statistical approaches to large, population-level datasets in this research. The successful candidate will join the microARCH team led by Dr. Laura Weyrich. MicroARCH is situated within the Department of Anthropology and the One Health Microbiome Center and collaborates with an international, interdisciplinary team across anthropology, microbiology, and dental health.

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.

Nice To Haves

• 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.

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.

Benefits

• Penn State provides a competitive benefits package for full-time employees designed to support both personal and professional well-being.
• For more detailed information, please visit our Benefits Page.
• (Note: For Postdoctoral benefits, please see our Postdoctoral Benefits page.)

What This Job Offers

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