General Description:
Dr. David Klahr’s Discovery Process Lab at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, PA welcomes applications for a part-time lab manager, to be jointly supervised by Dr. Klahr (http://www.psy.cmu.edu/~klahr/index.html) and Dr. Audrey Kittredge (http://www.psy.cmu.edu/people/kittredge.html). The position is for one year, beginning in August 2014, and involves 20 hours of work per week on several early childhood research projects. Topics include the development of early scientific reasoning and the effects of pedagogy on children’s exploration.
Responsibilities:
The lab manager will have a variety of responsibilities: (1) conducting experiments with preschoolers, kindergartners, and 1st graders, (2) helping to create physical or digital game-like stimuli for children, (3) recruiting and supervising undergraduate research assistants, (4) recruiting families and schools to participate in research, (5) maintaining communication with school administrators and museum staff, (6) coding and analyzing data, and (7) keeping track of lab expenses and documents.
Qualifications:
Essential: excellent organizational, communication, and problem-solving skills; a strong sense of responsibility; great attention to detail; an affinity for working with young children; a high level of professionalism, independence and initiative; the ability to collaborate with other researchers; good computer literacy, including experience working with Excel; previous experience working with children; access to a car (for participant testing).
Strongly recommended: previous research experience and a Bachelor’s degree in Developmental Psychology or a related field (e.g. Cognitive Science, Human-Computer Interaction, etc.).
Programming experience (e.g. Matlab, R, VBA/Visual Basic) is preferred, but not essential.
Research community:
Carnegie Mellon University provides a stimulating environment for research in psychology, child development, and the learning sciences. The university is home to a laboratory preschool and kindergarten (http://www.psy.cmu.edu/cs/), the Program for Interdisciplinary Education Research (http://www.cmu.edu/pier/), the Simon Initiative (http://www.cmu.edu/simon/), and the Pittsburgh Science of Learning Center (http://www.learnlab.org), a partnership between Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh.
How to apply:
Please send a brief cover letter explaining why you are interested in the position, a resume or CV, and contact information for 2 references to Dr. Audrey Kittredge (audreyk@andrew.cmu.edu). Applications will be reviewed as they are received, with the goal of filling the position as soon as possible.