Social Science/Humanities Research Associate III
The University of Texas at Austin•Austin, UT
•Onsite
About The Position
Dr. Nicholas Duran, Associate Professor of Psychology at UT Austin, is building a new cognitive and behavioral data science lab and seeks a Social Science/Humanities Research Associate III to serve as the lab’s technical lead. This is a senior, hands-on technical role under the direct supervision of the Principal Investigator. This is a one-year fixed term position.
Requirements
- Bachelor’s degree in computer science, data science, cognitive science, psychology, linguistics, engineering, or a related field.
- Demonstrated programming experience (e.g., Python, R, or MATLAB), including experience building or maintaining data-processing or analysis pipelines.
- Strong organizational skills, attention to detail, ability to work independently, and excellent written and oral communication.
- Relevant education and experience may be substituted as appropriate.
Nice To Haves
- Two or more years of research-laboratory, technical, or data-engineering experience, including hands-on experience with multimodal or multichannel behavior-capture systems (motion capture such as Vicon, OptiTrack, Qualisys, or Captury; eye-tracking; physiological recording; or VR).
- Experience with machine-learning or large-language-model tooling for transcription, annotation, or feature extraction, and with version control (e.g., Git) and reproducible research workflows.
- Interest in communication, behavioral dynamics, language and motion research, or behavioral data science more broadly.
Responsibilities
- Design, build, configure, and maintain the lab’s multimodal behavior-capture systems (motion capture, cameras, microphones, and multichannel recording hardware).
- Develop, document, and maintain data-processing and analysis pipelines for audio, video, motion, physiological, and language channels.
- Apply and integrate automated tools, including large language models, for transcription, annotation, and feature extraction.
- Lead data quality assurance and reproducible analysis workflows under PI direction.
- Write and maintain code and documentation in Python, R, or MATLAB.
- Provide technical guidance and training to undergraduate research assistants on data collection, coding, and pipeline use.
- Maintain shared drives, code repositories, and datasets consistent with IRB and UT data-management requirements.
- Support equipment procurement, inventory, and lab coordination in collaboration with the PI and the Psychology Business Office.
Benefits
- Teacher Retirement System of Texas (TRS) retirement plan (subject to position being at least 20 hours per week and at least 135 days in length).
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Senior
