Network Scientist

Department: Social Medicine-424901
Career Area : Research Professionals
Posting Open Date: 04/30/2024
Application Deadline: 05/14/2024
Open Until Filled: No
Position Type: Permanent Staff (EHRA NF)
Working Title: Network Scientist
Appointment Type: EHRA Non-Faculty
Position Number: ********
Vacancy ID: NF0008100
Full Time/Part Time: Full-Time Permanent
FTE: 1
Hours per week: 40
Position Location: North Carolina, US
Hiring Range: Dependent on Qualifications
Proposed Start Date: 06/03/2024
Be a Tar Heel!: A global higher education leader in innovative teaching, research and public service, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill consistently ranks as one of the nation's top public universities . Known for its beautiful campus, world-class medical care, commitment to the arts and top athletic programs, Carolina is an ideal place to teach, work and learn.One of the best college towns and best places to live in the United States, Chapel Hill has diverse social, cultural, recreation and professional opportunities that span the campus and community.University employees can choose from a wide range of professional training opportunities for career growth, skill development and lifelong learning and enjoy exclusive perks for numerous retail, restaurant and performing arts discounts, savings on local child care centers and special rates on select campus events. UNC-Chapel Hill offers full-time employees a comprehensive benefits package , paid leave, and a variety of health, life and retirement plans and additional programs that support a healthy work/life balance.
Primary Purpose of Organizational Unit: Abacus is an evaluation research service center at UNC and is affiliated with the Center for Health Equity Research (CHER), which brings together collaborative, multidisciplinary teams of scholars and community members to improve health in underserved communities through a shared commitment to health equity, innovation, and translational research. CHER's vision is to create and maintain cross-disciplinary synergy: The combination of individual perspectives, resources, and skills creates a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts and results in research collaborations with increased creativity and more comprehensive solutions to complex problems. CHER does this through advancing research methods; effectively translating research discoveries; conducting research that addresses patient and community-centered outcomes; and viewing equity in health care as an issue of quality. Across the research continuum, data management, analysis, visualization, and communication are integral to the success of projects and translation of research findings.
The UNC School of Medicine has a rich tradition of excellence and care. Our mission is to improve the health and wellbeing of North Carolinians, and others whom we serve. We accomplish this by providing leadership and excellence in the interrelated areas of patient care, education, and research. We strive to promote faculty, staff, and learner development in a diverse, respectful environment where our colleagues demonstrate professionalism, enhance learning, and create personal and professional sustainability. We optimize our partnership with the UNC Health System through close collaboration and commitment to service.
OUR VISION
Our vision is to be the nation's leading public school of medicine. We are ranked 2nd in primary care education among all US schools of medicine and 5th among public peers in NIH research funding. Our Allied Health Department is home to five top-ranked divisions, and we are home to 18 top-ranked clinical and basic science departments in NIH research funding.
OUR MISSION
Our mission is to improve the health and well-being of North Carolinians and others whom we serve. We accomplish this by providing leadership and excellence in the interrelated areas of patient care, education, and research.
Patient Care: We will promote health and provide superb clinical care while maintaining our strong tradition of reaching underserved populations and reducing health disparities across North Carolina and beyond.
Education: We will prepare tomorrow's health care professionals and biomedical researchers by facilitating learning within innovative curricula and team-oriented interprofessional education. We will cultivate outstanding teaching and research faculty, and we will recruit outstanding students and trainees from highly diverse backgrounds to create a socially responsible, highly skilled workforce.
Research: We will develop and support a rich array of outstanding health sciences research programs, centers, and resources. We will provide infrastructure and opportunities for collaboration among disciplines throughout and beyond our University to support outstanding research. We will foster programs in the areas of basic, translational, mechanistic, and population research. Position Summary: Flexible work arrangements, including virtual/hybrid work locations, are an integral part of the School of Medicine's Working Forward initiative. As such, this position's work location is designated as virtual. Please note that the designated work location is subject to change based on the unit's business needs.
Abacus Evaluation Consulting is a Research Service Center at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Abacus specializes in evaluation, network analysis, and data analytics and is committed to amplifying the impact and effectiveness of client and partner projects. Abacus' leadership consists of experienced evaluators who maintain currency with state-of-art research and evaluation methodologies. Abacus uses a variety of quantitative, qualitative, and mixed method approaches to address the research and evaluation questions identified in our projects. The Data Analytics unit is a critical workstream of Abacus and will support data collection, management, analysis, and visualization of research and evaluation programs and bring analytic skills, data solutions, and information design to support our teams and client projects. The network scientist position will report to the Associate Director of Data Science and Analytics.
The Network Scientist will be responsible for identifying and leading projects related to network science in addition to implementing analytics project tacks including data preparation, analysis and visualization for the Abacus portfolio in collaboration with the evaluation teams. They will provide analytic expertise to research and evaluation collaborative teams and seek opportunities for innovative uses of data, especially for network science. The Network Scientist will direct and engage with tasks to support the data science life cycle, such as data collection, cleaning, exploration, analysis, visualization, and interpretation aligned with project needs.
They will document all code and maintain communication of processes and presentation of results. The Network Scientist will work with the Abacus Data Analytics Team and other colleagues across workstreams and leadership in preparing high quality, rigorous analyses and communicating insights.
This position will primarily support the Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics in Underserved Populations (RADx-UP) Program and the RADx-UP Program's Coordinating and Data Collection Center (CDCC). The CDCC supports the National Institutes of Health's RADx-UP Program, and engages communities involved in this program by providing a robust, flexible, participatory, transparent, and sustainable infrastructure to advance COVID-19 testing science according to the needs and interests of communities. Minimum Education and Experience Requirements: Relevant post-Baccalaureate degree required (or foreign degree equivalent); for candidates demonstrating comparable independent research productivity, will accept a relevant Bachelor's degree (or foreign degree equivalent) and 3 or more years of relevant experience in substitution. May require terminal degree and licensure.
Required Qualifications, Competencies, and Experience: Broad knowledge of data science and quantitative analysis techniques and methods.
Ability to conceptualize, develop, adapt, and apply data science methods to solve problems appropriate to data source and project need.
Excellent organizational and time management skills for assigned tasks and the ability to consistently follow through and follow up with assignments of others.
Ability to clearly, concisely, professionally, and effectively communicate in writing and verbally with staff, faculty, and individuals in other organizations, including report writing.
Ability to collaborate effectively in a multidisciplinary environment, maintain cooperative working relationships, and collaborative problem-solve.
Preferred Qualifications, Competencies, and Experience: Experience in a research setting involving network science and/or data management.
Expertise using data programming software (e.g, R, Python, SAS, SQL, or other).
Demonstrated continuous development of programming and analytic skills and ability to produce readable, annotated code.
Strong understanding of relational data stream management.
Attention to detail to ensure accuracy, validity, and integrity of data and analysis.
Enthusiasm to learn new concepts and ways of working.
Campus Security Authority Responsibilities: Not Applicable.