APRILab lab Associates - IE

Working Title: APRILab lab Associates - IE

State Role Title: Institutional Employment /Federal Work Study

Position Type: Institutional Employment

Position Status: Part-Time

 

College/Division: College of Arts and Letters

Department: 100033 - Political Science Department

 

Pay Rate: Hourly

Specify Range or Amount: $13.50

 

Is this a JMU only position? No

Is this a grant-funded position? Yes. This is a grant-funded position and is contingent upon continued funding.

Is this a Conflict of Interest designated position? No

 

Beginning Review Date: 

 

About JMU:

Located in the heart of Virginia’s beautiful Shenandoah Valley, the city of Harrisonburg is approximately 120 miles from Washington, D.C. and Richmond, VA. With a population of just over 53,000, Harrisonburg is one of the most diverse communities in the Commonwealth of Virginia. JMU is a selective, public institution with a growing national reputation for offering experiences that lead to an outstanding education and inclusive environment for students, faculty and staff. The student body includes approximately 20,000 undergraduate and 1,900 graduate students, with over 1,000 full-time instructional faculty.

 

General Information:

Founded in 2022, the American Political Reform & Innovation Lab (APRILab) in the College of Arts and Letters is a nonpartisan, civic- and community-engaged political science and data science research lab. APRILab produces original, evidence-based research on institutional political reform in collaboration with internal and external social scientists and data scientists and with leading experts in the political reform advocacy community. The lab’s research addresses significant, real-world problems posed by institutional dysfunction, democratic backsliding, and unequal political influence.
APRILab is seeking Federal Work Study-eligible and Institutional Employment students as research assistants to lab-affiliated faculty members. The duties will require 5 to 10 hours per week depending on student qualifications, tasks, and scheduling needs. This is a minimum one-semester appointment, with preference given to students who anticipate being eligible to continue for the full academic year.
Students who identify themselves as a member of a traditionally marginalized population are especially encouraged to apply.

 

Duties and Responsibilities:

1. Conduct data collection, data cleaning, database management, and reporting tasks for faculty-supervised research projects;
2. Monitor progress on tasks and report activity to the supervising director, designated faculty member, and graduate assistant on a weekly basis;
3. Communicate effectively with lab-affiliated faculty, staff, and student colleagues;
4. Work collaboratively and productively in a diverse work environment, while acknowledging and appreciating differences among colleagues and external engagement partners;
5. Commit to acting in a professional, nonpartisan manner when representing

 

Qualifications:

The ideal candidate will possess a(n):
• Eligibility for Federal Work Study;
• Enrollment in and excellent academic standing in James Madison University for the 2023-2024 academic year (see conditions of employment);
• High level of intrinsic motivation, good time-management skills, and the ability to be independently productive and accountable to others;
• Willingness to conduct independent research in collaboration with the lab director, graduate assistant, lab-affiliated faculty, and student colleagues;
• Strong set of organizational, writing, research, and editing skills with a high level of attention to detail.

 

Additional Posting Information:

Preferred but not required:
• Experience with or coursework in technical writing, copy editing, proofreading and/or producing alternative audio, visual, or marketing products;
• Experience with or coursework in conducting social scientific, data visualization, or data science tasks, including data analysis in SPSS, Python, R, STATA, or related languages and with Qualtrics or similar questionnaire software;
• Familiarity with IRB protocols and human subjects research ethics;
• Ambition to pursue advanced graduate education and/or a career