Research Technician

Northeastern University•Boston, MA

1d•Onsite

About The Position

The Department of Psychology and Institute for Cognitive and Brain Health at Northeastern University invites applications for a full-time Research Technician. The position is to begin Summer or Fall 2026 for a term of 2-3 years, with yearly renewals based upon funding and performance. This position will be based in the Social Development and Wellbeing Lab, led by Dr. Alexandra Rodman. The Lab and offices are in the heart of Boston, in the new, state-of-the-art ISEC building, which includes a brand-new neuroimaging center. Our research examines the social lives of teens, including their social behavior and experiences, and how they process social information. We also examine how individual differences in these processes confer risk or resilience to mental health problems. As part of the Institute for Cognitive and Brain Health, there is ample opportunity for collaboration with other faculty and researchers of the Institute. Research staff will be formally mentored in the lab to help refine research interests, develop technical and intellectual research skills, and receive career planning / professional development. This position is a useful experience for those interested in scientific or clinical careers, such as in the field of research, psychology, pediatrics, neuroscience, data analytics, medicine, behavioral economics, and big data.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree (or expected by September 1, 2026) in Psychology or a related field (e.g., Neuroscience, Education, Sociology, Biology), with an interest in studying adolescent development and/or wellbeing.
Excellent organizational, interpersonal, and communication skills and demonstrated ability to communicate effectively with others (e.g., adult and child participants, families, other researchers).
Detail-oriented, motivated, efficient, and able to work independently.

Nice To Haves

Experience working with children and adolescents (e.g., data collection or clinical experience) is preferred
Preferred proficiency with statistical and programming languages/software (e.g., SPSS, R, Matlab, java, python), as well as prior experience conducting empirical research in psychological science or related topics

Responsibilities

Data collection (e.g., enroll children / adolescent / and adult study participants, run participants on multiple modes of data streams – includes behavioral, neuroimaging, digital phenotyping / mobile phone, wearable, and online data)
Data cleaning, preprocessing and analyses, with possibility of disseminating results via conference posters, talks, and first-author manuscripts.
Outreach and recruitment events.
Collaborating with undergraduate research assistants and research staff to run the study.
Potential to gain experience with advanced quantitative methods, neuroimaging data, or complete an independent research project.
Assist in running a multi-model, longitudinal NIH-funded study on social experiences, behavior, and processing in adolescents with and without history of various social stressors (e.g., peer victimization) and risk for mental health problems. This project will include computerized task data, online assessments, clinical interviews (e.g., diagnostics, risk assessment), EMA survey data, mobile phone data (i.e., digital phenotyping), neuroimaging, and data from wearables (i.e., fitbit or related device).