[Sighlth-l] [PLEASE SHARE] Postdoctoral fellow job posting

[Tiffany Veinot]

*Postdoctoral Fellow in Big Data and Community Health*
The University of Michigan announces a one-year postdoctoral fellowship
position. The position will start May 1, 2015.

*Salary: *$50,000 per year, plus a competitive benefits package and the
opportunity to appoint and supervise one or more paid undergraduate
research assistants to work on projects of your choice.

*To apply*

Candidates should submit the following materials electronically to Prof.
Tiffany Veinot at <tveinot at umich.edu>

Email <tveinot at umich.edu> one PDF file which includes

1.  A statement of interest describing your relevant background and skill

2.  A current curriculum vitae

3. The name and contact information for three references. (One reference
should be your doctoral advisor.)

4. Letters of recommendation will only be solicited from finalists

5.  Two publications or other writing samples


Review of applications will begin immediately and continue until the
position is filled.

*Position Description*

The School of Information, School of Public Health and Urban and Regional
Planning Program (at the Taubman College of Architecture and Urban
Planning) are jointly offering a postdoctoral fellow position in the
multidisciplinary area of “big data and community health.”



The burden of negative health outcomes is, unfortunately, differential in
the United States (US). Living in an area in which a large proportion of
residents are socio-economically disadvantaged exerts an independent,
negative effect on individual health status. Initiatives to reduce such
neighborhood-based health disparities, or “neighborhood effects”, require
access to meaningful, timely, and actionable information regarding the
health of different groups, and factors that influence their health. Yet,
there are key gaps in the country’s population health information
infrastructure, including a lack of accepted measures of community health
and the fact that many existing data are not fully exploited nor
effectively linked. In part, these gaps are due to the challenges of
gathering and analyzing large, diverse, dynamic, and relevant data sets.
The project will address these challenges by leveraging emerging “big data”
sources such as social media sites and citizen-created maps, while linking
new sources with existing health data sets.



The postdoctoral fellow will help lead the efforts to: 1) Collect, process,
and analyze geo-tagged social media data to measure neighborhood
characteristics that are related to health disparities; 2) Compare social
media measures with other existing data sets; and 3) Combine machine
learning and spatial statistical techniques to explore and model the
relationship between neighborhood characteristics and health behaviors.



This position will fund a researcher who will have the opportunity to work
alongside an interdisciplinary team of collaborators to develop “big data
and community health” as an area of research. The team of investigators
includes: Dr. Tiffany Veinot (School of Information and Department of
Health Behavior and Health Education, School of Public Health), Dr. Robert
Goodspeed (Urban and Regional Planning Program, Taubman College of
Architecture and Urban Planning), Dr. Veronica Berrocal (Department of
Biostatistics, Dr. Daniel Romero (School of Information and Department of
Computer Science, College of Engineering) and Dr. Phillipa Clarke
(Institute for Social Research). The postdoctoral fellow will be an equal
member of the interdisciplinary research group.


The postdoctoral fellow will be expected not only to conduct independent
research, but also to collaborate actively in the aforementioned research
project with faculty, graduate students, and undergraduate research
assistants. This responsibility includes regular communication and
coordination with the project team. The postdoc will also be expected to
contribute substantially to publications related to “big data and community
health,” acting as first author on some and as a secondary author on others.

The postdoctoral fellow will have office space at the University of
Michigan and may have the opportunity to teach one course in the School (to
be negotiated).


*Qualifications:*

·         A Ph.D. in a related area completed by the position start date.
The ideal candidate will have a PhD in Computer Science, Statistics,
Mathematics, Information, Public Health, Geography or a related field.

·         A strong background and experience with machine learning, data
mining, and/or spatial statistic methods.

·         Programming experience and comfort with handling and analyzing
big data sets.

·         Motivation and initiative, excellent communication skills, and
the ability to work independently as well as in a team.

·         A desire to learn and contribute to the field of Public Health is
preferred.


*Non-Discrimination Policy Notice*



The University of Michigan, as an equal opportunity/affirmative action
employer, complies with all applicable federal and state laws regarding
nondiscrimination and affirmative action. The University of Michigan is
committed to a policy of equal opportunity for all persons and does not
discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, marital
status, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression,
disability, religion, height, weight, or veteran status in employment,
educational programs and activities, and admissions. Inquiries or
complaints may be addressed to the Senior Director for Institutional
Equity, and Title IX/Section 504/ADA Coordinator, Office of Institutional
Equity, 2072 Administrative Services Building, Ann Arbor, Michigan
48109-1432, 734-763-0235, TTY 734-647-1388. For other University of
Michigan information call 734-764-1817.


*Apply here: http://umjobs.org/job_detail/106604/research_fellow
<http://umjobs.org/job_detail/106604/research_fellow>*

*Application deadline: February 28, 2015*

*For more information, contact: Tiffany Veinot, tveinot at umich.edu
<tveinot at umich.edu>*
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