Post Doctorate Research Associate- Human Factors Psychology

Salary/Position Classification

• $60,000 annual, Exempt
• 40 hours per week
• Hybrid Work Availability (requires some time on campus): Yes

Purpose of Position

The University of North Dakota (UND) is a public research university with a strong liberal arts foundation. UND is recognized as a prominent scientific research university, classified by the Carnegie Foundation as having high research activity. UND was recently ranked among the top 100 public and top 25 most innovative universities in the country by U.S. News and World Report, and is widely regarded as among the top universities in the American Northern Plains region. Currently, the University boasts 200+ fields of study with nearly 15,000 students. UND is located in Grand Forks, North Dakota, a vibrant college town of over 50,000 people located on the border of North Dakota and Minnesota. Grand Forks boasts high-quality medical facilities, a very low crime rate, many fine restaurants, acclaimed public and private schools, and community events throughout the year. Ranked as one of the Top 5 Best Small College Towns, and America’s Best Hockey Town, Grand Forks offers stellar quality of life without the metropolitan hassles.

The University of North Dakota invites applications for a Postdoctoral Research Associate position focused on Human Factors Psychology. The Postdoctoral Research Associate will be supervised by Phil Brandt, Sr. Research Scientist and supported by Dr. F. Richard Ferraro. The goal of the postdoctoral experience will be to integrate the Postdoctoral Research Associate into independent and collaborative research programs within the department and across UND’s College of Arts and Science, College of Engineering and Mines, and John D. Odegard School of Aerospace Sciences through research executed by UND’s Research Institute for Autonomous Systems (RIAS) (https://und.edu/research/rias/). A special continued concentration for this Postdoctoral Research Associate will be the execution and expansion of UND’s National Security Initiative associated human factors psychology research. This research is primarily focused on the merge of human operators and technology across the broad national security and defense areas of Autonomy, Space, Medicine and Deployed Health, and Energy (https://und.edu/research/grand-challenges/ns-space.html).
Postdoctoral Research Associate work includes developing experiments and performing human subject testing in realistic scenarios; quantifying improved mission capabilities with and without Augmented Reality (AR) systems; making recommendations based on study outcomes to improve the AR experience and optimally present information to system users; and formulate study findings into a report for future publication in a peer reviewed journal or conference proceedings. Part of the work includes thorough evaluation of appropriate equipment, sensors, and software supporting human factor experiments. Postdoctoral Research Associate deliverables associated with this project include intermediate study findings and final project phase reports quantifying the expected improved mission capability for several diverse scenarios replicating system use by military personnel.

The physiological measurement tools currently used eye-tracking systems (glasses-based, screen-based, and in-vehicle installed), facial emotion recognition, and electroencephalography (EEG), with funding available to acquire and integrate other performance monitoring systems as desired by the Postdoctoral Research Associate. To support the research, RIAS has built an experiment lab equipped with high-performance computers, tablets, and peripheral devices. The lab is managed by a full-time lab manager and staffed with student and part-time employees. The lab employs Team Awareness Kit (TAK) (https://tak.gov/), specifically WIN-TAK, ATAK, and VTAK, to support research involving shared situational awareness, real-time collaboration, and virtual environment training and rehearsal.
In addition to currently funded research activities, the Postdoctoral Research Associate will be required to identify opportunities for national security and defense-focused human factors psychology research funding and participate in the preparation of research funding submissions. The Postdoctoral Research Associate is also encouraged to develop their own human factors psychology research project(s) in collaboration with other research partners and submit external funding proposals for their support in each year of this potential two-year appointment.

The initial appointment is made for up to 12 months with the potential to extend an additional 12 months based upon the availability of continued funding and the performance of the Postdoctoral Associate.

Duties & Responsibilities

• The successful applicant will help advance UND’s