Project Coordinator

The University of Southern California (USC) is a private research university in Los Angeles, California. It is the oldest private research university in California and is consistently ranked among the nation’s most prestigious universities. The USC Daniel J. Epstein department of Industrial & Systems Engineering (ISE) and the Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science (CS) rank among the top in the world in their respective fields.

The National Science Foundation (NSF) National Research Traineeship (NRT) Program on Integrating Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Operations Research (OR) Technologies will establish a new interdisciplinary program that will be used to educate graduate (Masters and PhD) students at the interface of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Operations Research (OR) and to create a graduate specialization (in the form of a certificate program) for PhD students enrolled in CS and ISE at USC. It will provide graduate students with interdisciplinary training to prepare them for their research at the interface of AI and OR. The program consists of a variety of activities including course development, workshops, a seminar series, and research.

The NSF NRT Program on Integrating AI and OR is seeking a skilled, dependable, and detail-oriented Project Coordinator to support the co-directors (one from ISE and one from CS) in managing the creation and implementation of the program. The Project Coordinator will manage the program jointly with the Co-directors and provide most of the administrative effort. More generally, they will support the leadership team (9 faculty members) with any program administrative matters.

Responsibilities include:

• Coordinate and implement the activities of the program. Examples include: workshops, seminar series, meetings, research conferences
• Work closely with the leadership team, faculty, and graduate students to ensure proper implementation of the program and the progression of the students through the curriculum
• Supervise students in designing and maintaining the website and other marketing materials for the program
• Communicate with program participants (current and prospective students, faculty, advisory board members) regularly and through diverse media (zoom, phone, email, as needed)
• Track and manage data on activities, publications, student participation, budgetary expenses
• Keep detailed meeting notes
• Help draft project reports and draft presentations

Job duties may be added or modified as needed.  

Viterbi staff are expected to facilitate a culture of support and service, to model civility and respectful engagement at all times, and to maintain the highest ethical standards and to maintain strict confidentiality across all facets of their work.  

Required Qualifications:

• Strong organizational capabilities, excellent written and oral communications skills, and demonstrated ability to work independently with minimal oversight to support educational and research activities

• Experience in collecting and organizing program budgeting data

• A Bachelor’s degree or equivalent combination of education and/or experience with relevance to project management in business or STEM fields

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience supporting and coordinating the creation and administration of new programs
• Experience in event organization and management
• Evidence of the ability to work collaboratively in an interdisciplinary environment
• Academic marketing experience

This is a hybrid, part-time position. The Project Coordinator will be expected to work onsite for 1-2 days per week. This position is not eligible for fully remote work.

The hourly rate range for this part-time position is $30.62 - $32.29. When extending an offer of employment, the University of Southern California considers factors such as (but not limited to) the scope of responsibilities of the position, the candidate’s work experience, education/training, key skills, internal peer equity, federal, state, and local laws, contractual stipulations, grant funding, as well as external market and organizational considerations.  

Fixed-Term Employment: Employees hired under a fixed-term agreement acknowledge that the university may change the expected end date at any time by providing a one (1) month written notification. Your employment may also end for other reasons consistent with university policy. According to university policy, no severance benefits are paid to employees hired under a fixed term agreement. When you leave, your final paycheck will include pay for days wor