Predoctoral Research Fellow (Project Specialist)

The Center for Economic and Social Research (CESR) at the Dana and David Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences is seeking a Predoctoral Research Fellow / Project Specialist to join its team. The Research Fellow will provide analytical support to a portfolio of academic research at the intersection of economics, health, and aging. In the near term, this position will focus on understanding the health and economic consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic in India. The Research Fellow will work closely with a dynamic multidisciplinary team, including Professors Jinkook Lee and Simone Schaner at the University of Southern California, and Professor Heather Schofield at the University of Pennsylvania. Strong candidates will be highly motivated, have sound data and analytical skills, training in economics and applied econometrics, and excellent organizational and logical reasoning skills. The position is ideal for candidates considering PhD programs public policy, health, or economics. The position will be filled as soon as possible so applications will be considered on a rolling basis.

This is a grant-funded position.

Compensation:

Pay range is $27 - $32.31 per hour

Job responsibilities include:

• Work collaboratively to acquire a strong understanding of country and/or state-specific social and economic policy, particularly with respect to the COVID-19 pandemic
• Work with the research team to manage information and data collection and organization
• Scrape, process, and clean data available on public websites
• Clean and process original survey data for analysis and conduct both descriptive and quasi-experimental analysis using econometric techniques
• Prepare literature reviews per request of senior researchers
• Participate in writing of reports, presentations, research papers, articles and other documentation of project status and/or administrative activities or project results

Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree required. Master's preferred.
• Major in economics, political science, sociology, psychology, quantitative social sciences, or related field required.
• Proven analytical skills and proficiency in Stata or R (Stata preferred); web scraping skills in R or Python a plus
• Additional knowledge in health related fields or experience in India is valuable, but not required. 
• Ability to produce careful and detail-oriented work
• Excellent communication and writing skills
• Exceptional problem-solving abilities 
• Strong organizational skills
• The ability to work and solve problems independently

Required Documents and Additional Information:

• Resume and cover letter required (may be uploaded as one file). Please do not submit your application without these documents.
• Job openings are posted for a minimum of (5) five business days. This job may be removed from posting boards and filled any time after the minimum posting period has ended, so please apply on the same business day if interested.
• USC has excellent benefits, including health benefits for staff and their family with access to the renowned university medical network; eligibility for retirement plans with employer contributions after six months of employment; tuition benefits for staff and their family; free Professional Development classes; central Los Angeles location with easy access to commuter trains, buses and free tram pick up services; discounts to sporting and other campus events.

The University of Southern California is an Equal Opportunity Employer that Values Diversity.

Minimum Education: Bachelor's degree Minimum Experience: 2 years Minimum Field of Expertise: Directly related education and experience to be able to advise on project procedures and analysis techniques