Silent Spring Institute is a non-profit scientific research group studying the environment and health. We seek a research assistant or staff scientist with experience in computer science, data analysis, or mathematics and an interest in applying these skills to environmental health research.
We are a multi-disciplinary team and international leader in research on everyday exposures to hormone disruptors, tests for breast carcinogens, and environmental links to breast cancer. We lead collaborative research teams that include top computer scientists, statisticians, and other scientists at Brown, Harvard, UC Berkeley, and elsewhere. Recent studies, published in Environmental Health Perspectivesand covered widely in the news media, illustrate our work (http://bit.ly/Tos2zj, http://bit.ly/Mym8eZ).
- The new researcher will work on projects that combine technology, environmental health science, and social science. For example, researchers nationally are struggling to develop meaningful ways to report to study participants on the levels of emerging contaminants detected in their own body or home. Our unique team of environmental health scientists, social scientists, and human-computer interaction experts is designing a digital interface that we expect will become the standard for reporting results in biomonitoring and exposure studies. We will first develop and test the interface for reporting personal pesticide exposures to residents of Boston public housing.
Responsibilities: This position requires versatility in support of the Institute's transdisciplinary research. It reports to the executive director and affords a bird's-eye-view of research in human computer interaction, environmental health science, and community engaged research.
Examples of activities:
- Help design an interactive digital reporting system for personal environmental exposures.
- Conduct data management and statistical analyses using R.
- Help create computational systems to assess privacy risks in environmental health data.
- Develop an Adroid app to tell shoppers about health-related chemicals in cleaners and personal care products.
- Opportunities to author peer-reviewed articles.
- Support proposal preparation for federal and foundation grants.
- Help research team keep apprised of new technology, research news and policy developments.
- Some travel. Some evening and weekend responsibilities at public events.
Requirements: We seek applicants with outstanding academic and technical skills and commitment to advancing environmental public health. Applicants with a bachelors or graduate-level degree will be considered. Excellent academic record; computer science, mathematics, biochemistry/biology, and social science coursework an asset. Programming experience, especially in R or Java, and relevant work experience preferred. Creativity, attention to accuracy, ability to work independently within a multidisciplinary team. Commitment to careful and impartial research in a context of partnership between scientists and the public. For more information, visit our web site at www.silentspring.org.
