MAST Project Coordinator

Job Posting Title:

MAST Project Coordinator

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Hiring Department:

Special Education

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Position Open To:

All Applicants

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Weekly Scheduled Hours:

40

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FLSA Status:

Exempt

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Earliest Start Date:

Oct 01, 2024

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Position Duration:

Expected to Continue Until Sep 30, 2025

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Location:

UT MAIN CAMPUS

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Job Details:

Purpose

The Meadows Center for Preventing Educational Risk at the University of Texas at Austin is committed to conducting and disseminating high-quality research to that lead to improved outcomes for all learners. Dr. Jessica Toste is seeking qualified applicants for a Project Coordinator position. The Project Coordinator will work directly with Dr. Toste to support daily operations and research activities on a large-scale project funded by the U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences. This project involves conducting a comprehensive investigation of the application of motivational, agentic, and self theories (MAST) to interventions for students with disabilities in K-12. The project integrates a breadth of methodological designs to address three aims: (1) identify special education interventions that target MAST-driven constructs and determine their effects for K-12 students with disabilities; (2) review intervention practices used to target MAST-driven constructs in eligible studies and examine the theoretical overlap; and (3) identify relative effects of different intervention practices and determine the optimal MAST intervention to improve educational outcomes for students with disabilities. 

The MAST Project Coordinator will play a critical role in maintaining data integrity and ensuring a high level of rigor, efficiency, and reproducibility for all research procedures. This position is full-time and expected to continue for 1 year with the possibility of renewal. For questions about this position, please contact Dr. Jessica Toste at The University of Texas at Austin (jrtoste@austin.utexas.edu).

Responsibilities

• Assist in the planning, coordination, and execution of research project, ensuring adherence to project timelines and deliverables.

• Collaborate directly with the PI to establish, maintain, and continually improve processes, best practices, and procedures for systematic review and data management.

• Coordinate team meetings, prepare agendas, and document meeting outcomes.

• Co-lead the introduction of data integrity practices and improve existing practices.

• Develop and deliver team training on screening and review procedures, coding, and collection of materials based on collaboratively decided priorities.

• Manage and conduct systematic reviews and meta-analyses, ensuring adherence to established protocols.

• Perform qualitative coding of intervention materials with a focus on maintaining high standards of reliability and validity.

• Assist in writing study methods and results for use in reports, manuscripts, and presentations in collaboration with PI.

Required Qualifications

• Master's degree with two years of relevant experience.

• Strong communication skills, including the ability to explain and document procedures that support reliability and reproducibility of all research.

• Strong understanding of research methodology and principles of rigor, reliability, and reproducibility; and excellent attention to detail.

• Experience in conducting systematic reviews and meta-analyses.

• Excellent organizational and project management skills, with the ability to manage multiple tasks simultaneously.

• Ability to work independently and collaboratively. Strong interpersonal skills, with the ability to collaborate effectively with cross-functional teams.

• Demonstrated knowledge of research synthesis methods, including but not limited to systematic review, meta-analysis, and qualitative content analysis.

Relevant education and experience may be substituted as appropriate.

Preferred Qualifications

• PhD in a relevant field. Three years of relevant experience.

• Familiarity with special education intervention research.

• Experience with statistical analysis software.

• Knowledge of qualitative coding techniques and software.

• Two or more years of experience with relevant resea