Research Associate

Job Posting Title:

Research Associate

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Hiring Department:

Texas Advanced Computing Center

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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:

Immediately

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Position Duration:

Expected to Continue

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Location:

PICKLE RESEARCH CAMPUS

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Job Details:

General Notes 

The Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC) at The University of Texas at Austin is one of the leading supercomputing centers in the world, supporting advances in computational research by thousands of researchers and students. TACC’s Evaluation Services team designs and conducts rigorous research and evaluation services to provide actionable insights to inform and enhance internal and external programs and their impacts.

TACC fosters a culture of innovation, passion, and fun by encouraging staff members to actively collaborate to investigate the latest technologies, team up for charities, and celebrate successes together. TACC promotes a healthy workplace by helping employees achieve balance between their personal and professional lives in order to increase employee engagement, job satisfaction, and overall well-being.

Candidates are required to upload a resume, letter of interest, unofficial copy of transcript, and the names of three references in order to be considered for this position. 

UT Austin offers a competitive benefits package that includes:  

• 100% employer-paid basic medical coverage 
• Retirement contributions  
• Paid vacation and sick time 
• Paid holidays 

Please visit our Human Resources (HR) website to learn more about the total benefits offered.

Purpose

Position will be responsible for developing and implementing formative and summative evaluations of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education related projects, research grants, and contracted evaluation services.

Responsibilities

Grant Writing Assistance and Research/Evaluation Design

• Meet with potential clients to provide consultation on STEM education related research and evaluation design.
• Assist potential clients with the identification of key performance indicators and metrics, appropriate quantitative or qualitative data collection methods and instrumentation, and analysis techniques to address research and evaluation questions.
• Assist potential clients with the development of logic models for grant proposals.
• Develop evaluation component of grant proposals in coordination with potential clients.

Conduct Research and Evaluations

• Design and manage process and outcome evaluations of STEM education related programs.
• Collaborate with external organizations (e.g., colleges, research centers, data depositories) and internal partners (e.g., EPIC staff) to obtain data for analysis.
• Assist EPIC staff and external clients with Institutional Review Board process and documentation.
• Develop data sharing agreements, formalize Institutional Review Board documents, and Memoranda of Understanding on research and evaluation projects.
• Develop and/or identify appropriate content-specific instrumentation for evaluating project metrics as needed.
• Conduct interviews, focus groups, site visits, and/or classroom observations as needed.
• Collaborate with Center staff to manage the secure storage and handling of all evaluation data.
• Conduct quantitative research and evaluation (e.g., survey design, descriptive statistics, inferential statistics).
• Contribute to the research/evaluation team, collaborating with EPIC faculty, staff and graduate research assistants as needed.
• Write project evaluation component of required reports to funding agencies.
• Create data visualizations and briefs to communicate evaluation findings to multiple audiences.

Dissemination of Findings/Services

• Write and submit research articles and presentation proposals.
• Disseminate research and evaluation results at national and regional conferences in coordination with research/project team.
• Represent TACC at local, regional and national events, promoting research and evaluation services.