Employment Opportunity: Social Science Research Assistant
 
The Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program & Water Resources Mission Area of the U.S. Geological Survey are looking for a research assistant to support stakeholder engagement efforts associated with coastal change hazards and water availability assessment. (Please see https://www.usgs.gov/natural-hazards/coastal-marine-hazards-and-resources and https://www.usgs.gov/mission-areas/water-resources/science/integrated-water-availability-assessments-iwaas.)
The research assistant will provide support for two projects using human-centered design and stakeholder engagement methods to iteratively design decision support tools and data portals disseminating information about hazards on the nation’s coasts and key water budget metrics. Key tasks include: (a) identifying, obtaining, synthesizing, and reviewing interdisciplinary literature from a range of fields such as human-computer interaction, participatory action research, and geography; and producing written summaries of these literature reviews (b) conducting interviews and/or focus groups with internal and external stakeholders and (c) analyzing qualitative data. Additional duties may include helping interpret results and contributing to peer-reviewed publications or other means of disseminating results. The research assistant will provide support to an interdisciplinary, geographically dispersed research team and will be expected to be an active member of this team.
The USGS Water Resources Mission Area and Coastal Change Hazards program are a dynamic, collegial group of research scientists, data experts, and information specialists providing a multifaceted perspective on the data, knowledge, and tools produced that aim to understand water availability and coastal change as well as potential hazards associated with these changes. The research assistant will have the opportunity to interact with Coastal Change Hazards scientists, Water Resource Mission Area scientists, project stakeholders from other institutions and government agencies, and collaborating social scientists.
 
The research assistant should be currently enrolled in a masters or PhD program (or a recently graduated masters student) in a social science field, design, human-computer interaction, or another relevant discipline.
 The candidate also must have:
1.    Experience conducting social science, design, or usability research or equivalent experience working with stakeholders.
2.    Demonstrated ability to independently collect and analyze qualitative interview and/or focus group data.
3.    Demonstrated ability to conduct interdisciplinary literature reviews.
4.    Excellent writing ability.
5.    A U.S. driver’s license (as operation of a Government vehicle may be required).

 
Our preferred candidate will have:
1.    A degree related to and/or experience with natural hazards, ocean and coastal management, and/or water management.
2.    Experience with any of the following: other qualitative social science research methods, human-centered design, usability research, stakeholder engagement, decision support tools, NVIVO software, and interdisciplinary research environments.
 
This position is a USGS Student Services contract position. This means:
1.    Applicants must be U.S. citizens
2.    Applicants must either have graduated within the past year or be currently enrolled as a student.
3.    For all legal purposes, student is regarded as an independent contractor.  Payments for services are reportable and taxable as earned income.  No Federal, State, or Local income taxes will be deducted.  No Social Security or Medicare taxes will be deducted.  Student is responsible for payment of all taxes.  The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) will report the total amount paid under this order to the Internal Revenue Service on a Standard Form 1099.  The student is not considered an employee and will not receive a W-2 form.

The work schedule is part-time and flexible and would be ideally suited to a current student who wants to work close to full time over the summer and continue approximately 15-20 hours/week over next academic year.  We are looking for someone available beginning in June 2020. While most of the work can be done remotely, the research assistant needs to be located in occasional commuting distance to one of the following USGS locations: Fort Collins, CO; St Petersburg, FL; Santa Cruz, CA/ San Francisco, CA; Woods Hole, MA. The pay rate for this position is determined by level of education completed and ranges from $24.46 per hour to $36.20 per hour.
 
Contact Information:

For questions related directly to the job, contact Amanda Cravens, Research Social Scientist, at aecravens@usgs.gov.


To Apply:

Please submit a cover letter, resume, transcripts (unofficial ok), and a writing sample demonstrating your ability to interpret qualitative data to aecravens@usgs.gov by 11:59 PM (Mountain Time) Tuesday May 19th. Please use “Usability Research Assistant application” as the subject line for your email.