About the position
The University of Minnesota is seeking a dedicated individual to join our research team as a Research Support Specialist. This position involves working closely with faculty mentors to develop a training agenda and actively participate in the design, implementation, and evaluation of research projects. The successful candidate will be responsible for preparing and presenting data to study investigators, authoring and collaborating on reports, conference papers, and journal articles, as well as preparing postdoctoral fellowship and grant applications. Additionally, the role includes supervising research assistants and laboratory personnel, ensuring that the research environment is productive and collaborative. In this position, you will develop computer code for running and analyzing closed-loop neural recording and stimulation experiments. You will collaborate with scientists, physicians, and engineers to transform complex requirements into effective software solutions. Your responsibilities will also include administering behavioral and stimulation experiments, analyzing and curating code written by other programmers, and integrating existing commercial and open-source software solutions with tailored in-house software solutions. You will be tasked with programming databases according to design specifications, integrating scientific software packages with database solutions, and designing user interfaces for scientific software packages. Moreover, you will develop web and app interfaces for scientific software packages, implement behavior task logic in code, write and troubleshoot scripts for running behavior experiments, and ensure that all software functions according to specifications through rigorous testing and documentation. You will manage the scientific analysis codebase, address GitHub issues, and maintain comprehensive documentation. Building visualization tools to evaluate data quality and scientific results will also be part of your duties. Other responsibilities may be assigned as needed, contributing to a dynamic and innovative research environment.
Responsibilities
- Work in conjunction with faculty mentor to determine training agenda.
- Participate in the design, implementation, and evaluation of a research project.
- Prepare and present data to study investigators.
- Author, co-author, and otherwise collaborate on reports, conference papers and journal articles.
- Prepare postdoctoral fellowship and grant applications.
- Supervise research assistants and laboratory personnel.
- Develop computer code for running and analyzing closed-loop neural recording and stimulation experiments.
- Assist with administering behavioral and stimulation experiments.
- Analyze, curate, and debug codes written by other programmers and scientists.
- Analyze and integrate existing commercial and open-source software solutions with tailored in-house software solutions.
- Program databases according to design specifications of data models using state-of-the-art languages.
- Integrate scientific software packages with database solutions.
- Design and develop user interfaces to scientific software packages.
- Develop web- and app-interfaces to scientific software packages.
- Implement behavior task logic in code using existing or new codebases.
- Write, test and troubleshoot scripts for running behavior experiments.
- Write unit tests and validation functions to ensure that software is working according to specifications.
- Write well documented code, refactor and document existing code.
- Manage scientific analysis codebase, address GitHub issues, maintain documentation.
- Build visualization tools to evaluate data quality and scientific results.
Requirements
- B.A/B.S. with 2 years of experience in electrical engineering, computer science, neuroscience with a strong quantitative focus, or related field or a combination of education and experience to equal 6 years.
Nice-to-haves
- Experience with clinical data analysis
- Experience with high dimensional data analysis
- Experience with neurophysiological data (MEG/EEG, fMRI, single neurons)
Benefits
- Competitive wages, paid holidays, and generous time off
- Continuous learning opportunities through professional training and degree-seeking programs
- Low-cost medical, dental, and pharmacy plans
- Healthcare and dependent care flexible spending accounts
- University HSA contributions
- Disability and employer-paid life insurance
- Employee wellbeing program
- Excellent retirement plans with employer contribution
- Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF)
- Financial counseling services
- Employee Assistance Program with eight sessions of counseling at no cost
