Job Description:
The Duke Master in Interdisciplinary Data Science (MIDS) program within the Social Science Research Institute is looking to support an existing post-doctoral research associate at Duke as part of an interdisciplinary position that will bridge key project initiatives between their department/school and SSRI.
The position expands the associate’s role to include educational responsibilities in the flagship capstone projects for the Masters in Data Science program. Capstone projects are team based, collaborative projects involving 2-4 Masters students, a project manager, a client. The Master’s students will work in close collaboration with guidance from their manager while helping fulfill the needs of their client; project managers are either doctoral students, post-doctoral fellows, or early career faculty members who will meet with the teams regularly and serve as a primary point of contact for organizing research, resources, and team dynamics; clients are either faculty members or external organizations, such as companies or non-profits with an identified need.
Alongside two other directors, the associate will help coordinate and manage all of the Capstone projects and the related classroom components for master’s and several doctoral graduate students.
The term of this appointment is contingent on funding availability and initially projected for a one year period from Jun 15th 2020 through June 14, 2021.
Principal Responsibilities:
- In addition to existing research obligations, the associate is expected to assist in organizing project-based graduate education with the MIDS program. This involves acting as a main point of contact in guiding and assisting students as they initiate, navigate, & complete their Capstone projects. The associate will also be involved in developing and running the classroom component, be a liaison with the external partners, and identify and scope future projects.
- Tasks associated with MIDS Capstone management & instruction:
- Be the main point of contact in guiding and assisting students as they initiate, navigate, & complete their Capstone projects
- Assign, oversee, and support project managers for each project, and reach out to faculty director if there are gaps
- Monitor student progress and work with individuals and teams as they submit weekly written updates on coding and client communications
- Ensure confidential, proprietary, or otherwise sensitive data is being treated appropriately in their respective protected data environment as needed
- Act as an intermediary between MIDS students and external partners to resolve potential conflicts in scope creep and project expectations
- Coordinating with MIDS faculty in the development of the classroom education of the Capstone course
- Grade and evaluate completed projects
- Assist and advise MIDS participation in the Industry Affiliates program
- Work with external partners and Duke partnership teams in creating agreements and setting scopes of each individual projects
Preferred Qualifications:
- A Ph.D.
- Active experience working with data driven problems
- Experience coding, ideally in R and/or Python
- Experience as a Project Manager
- Familiarity with data science methodologies
- Teaching experience and organizing class logistics
- A history of science communication and data visualization
Principle Benefits:
The MIDS program will support up to 50% of the applicants effort.