Post-Doctoral Researcher - Research Technician III (Temporary December 31, 2022, with the possibility of reappointment)

Salary and Benefits

The starting salary placement depends on qualifications and experience and is anticipated to be in the range of $4,476.00/month to $6,287.00/month.

Cal State East Bay offers a broad range of benefits that includes medical, dental, vision, retirement (CalPERS), 401k, 457, 403(b), dependent and health care reimbursement accounts, life insurance, vacation and sick, 13 paid holidays, one personal holiday and tuition fee waiver.
For more information on the benefits program, please visit https://www.csueastbay.edu/hr/benefits/index.html

About Cal State East Bay

Cal State East Bay's beautiful main campus is located in the Hayward hills with panoramic views of the San Francisco Bay shoreline. Situated above the city of Hayward, the campus offers an ideal setting for teaching and learning and yet easy access to the many cities along the bay. The University has a satellite campus in Concord, a professional development center in Oakland and a significant presence online. Founded in 1957, Cal State East Bay is one of 23 universities of the California State University system (CSU). With an enrollment over 15,800 students, Cal State East Bay is recognized as a regionally engaged and globally oriented university with a strong commitment to academic innovation, student success, engaged and service learning, diversity, and sustainability.

About the Position

The Next Generation Science Standards provide unique opportunities for school children and teachers to engage in inquiry-driven and collaborative science learning. Along with this opportunity comes a need for shifts in the way science is taught in the United States. Teachers must not only support their students in understanding core science concepts, but also in exploring concepts via science and engineering practices. Students and teachers explore science by making sense of natural phenomena and engaging in solutions to problems. However, shifts in educational practice often occur in isolation, separately at the university or in school districts. Building on research from a prior NSF-funded project, this project employs an innovative, iterative approach involving a Networked Improvement Community to co-create a shared vision and co-defined research agenda between university researchers, science educators and school district practitioners working together to reform teacher education across a variety of contexts. By studying outcomes of shared supports and teacher tools for use in multiple steps along the science teacher pathway, we would create an opportunity to map variation existing in the system science teacher education. This process would integrate an iterative nature of educational change in local contexts impacting enactment of the Next Generation Science Standards in both university teacher preparation programs and in school district professional training  activities and classrooms. This project has the potential to impact wider levels of reform beyond isolated school initiatives and provide a model for synergy and alignment in complex efforts and policy involved in improving teacher practices, ultimately bolstering a variety of coordinated efforts that have positive impact in classrooms.  

Summary of position:  The postdoctoral researcher will work in collaboration with a research team to design research, coordinate and conduct data collection, analyze data, prepare manuscripts for publication, and prepare reports.

Responsibilities

Design research studies

• Propose research questions and detailed plans for study
• Contribute to sampling design

Collect quantitative and qualitative data

• Conduct interviews of teachers and administrators (20-40/year)
• Oversee graduate student researcher and teacher researcher in the collection of interview data
• Coordinate with administrative staff in collecting survey data
• Collect observations of Networked Improvement Community (NIC) meetings

Organize and analyze quantitative and qualitative data

• Coordinate with administrative staff and researchers in downloading, storing, and organizing data
• Coordinate with administrative staff and lead undergraduate researchers in data entry and transcription
• Conduct qualitative data analysis and interpretation, including various forms of coding using current software
• Provide data visualization of quantitative data; run basic statistics

Prepare conference presentations and publications of research findings

• Propose, write, and present at national educational research conferences
• Prepare research publications that report on major aspects of the research project for highly regarded research journals
• Attend research, NIC and leadership meetings

Required Qualifications

• Work experience in and knowledge of K-12 education
• Research experience in science education, teacher learning/professional development, and/or educational reform
• Methodological expertise in quantitative and/or mixed methods research
• Experience presenting at national conferences and publishing in high-impact educational research journals
• Experience working in research teams
• Must have reliable transportation and the ability to travel to different school districts throughout the day 

Minimum Qualifications

Experience:

Three years of progressively responsible technical research or statistical experience including or supplemented by one year in the interpretation and graphic presentation of data. Graduate study in the social sciences, economics, mathematics, statistics, public or business administration or engineering may be substituted for the required experience on a year-for-year basis. 

Education:

Equivalent to graduation from a four-year college or university. (Additional qualifying professional experience may be substituted for the required education on a year-for-year basis.) 

Preferred Skills and Knowledge

• Ph.D. in Science Education, Policy and Organizational Studies in Education, Learning Sciences, or a closely-related field 

Condition(s) of Employment

Satisfactory completion of a background check (including LiveScan, as appropriate), that may include, but is not limited to: criminal records check, verification of academic credentials, licenses, certificates, credit history, professional references and/or verification of work history is required for employment.  Cal State East Bay will issue a conditional offer of employment to the selected candidate, which may be rescinded if the background check reveals disqualifying information, and/or it is discovered that the candidate knowingly withheld or falsified information. Unsatisfactory results may also affect the continued employment of current Cal State East Bay employees who were conditionally offered the position.
All background checks are conducted through the university's third party vendor, Accurate. LiveScan is conducted through the University Police Department.

EEO Statement

As an Equal Opportunity Employer, Cal State East Bay does not discriminate on the basis of any protected categories: age, ancestry, citizenship, color, disability, gender, immigration status, marital status, national origin, race, religion, sexual orientation, or veteran's status. The University is committed to the principles of diversity in employment and to creating a stimulating learning environment for its diverse student body.

Other Information

All California State University campuses, including Cal State East Bay, are smoke and tobacco-free.  For more information, please visit our website at http://www.csueastbay.edu/smokeandtobaccofree/
In compliance with state and federal crime awareness and campus security legislation, including The Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Crime Statistics Act, the Cal State East Bay Annual Campus Security Report is available at: http://www.csueastbay.edu/upd/safety-and-security-reports.html

Sponsorship

Cal State East Bay is not a sponsoring agency for Staff or Management positions and we are not an E-Verify employer.

Mandated Reporter

The incumbent in this position may be considered a mandated reporter under the California Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Act and will be required to comply with requirements set forth in the CSU Executive Order 1083 as a condition of employment.

CSU Vaccination Policy

CSU requires faculty, staff, and students who are accessing campus facilities to be immunized against COVID-19 or declare a medical or religious exemption from doing so.  Any candidates advanced in a currently open search process should be prepared to comply with this requirement. The systemwide policy can be found at https://calstate.policystat. com/policy/9779821/latest/ and questions may be sent to [email protected] .