Current job and research project openings at Chico State

Author

Robin Donatello

Published

July 11, 2018

Strategic Planning Student Assistant

  • Department: Office of the President, CSU, Chico

  • Project Details: As one of the first steps in the strategic planning process, we are conducting both internal and external scans. The internal scan will review internal data (President’s Listening Tour, Campus Climate Survey, Alumni Attitude Survey, Spring Graduate Survey, etc.) to identify institutional strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. The external (environmental) scan will examine patterns of change in the surrounding environment that will impact Chico State as an institution in the future. This includes a wide range of metrics at the global, national, state, and regional level, including economic factors, demographic factors, higher education trends, etc. This is not a super hardcore data science position but will require a lot sifting through and visualizing data. In addition to helping with the scans, the student (if they chose to remain with the project) would assist with the planning and execution of strategic planning campus engagement events, analysis of campus engagement data, and other tasks associated with the strategic planning process.

  • Time commitment: This is a paid position open until filled. Summer hours up to 40hr/wk, and up to 20 hours (at least 15) during the semester if interested.

  • Requirements: Applicants should have a basic grasp of statistical methods, a solid grasp of MS Excel and functions, data cleansing and formatting, graphing, etc. Experience with tools like Tableau or PowerBI would be a bonus. Applicants should have excellent written communication and organizational skills. Additional data cleaning skills with a programming language such as R or Python acceptible as long as the process is clearly documented and can be reproduced by other staff.

  • Contact: Students can apply on the Handshake job application website.

Carpentry Workshop Helper

  • Project Details: The DSI will be hosting a Software Carpentry workshop on Reproducible Scientific Analysis using R. This two-day hands-on workshop will serve approximately 20-30 learners by 2-3 instructors so technical assistance (TA/helpers) are incredibly needed! TA’s will generally wander around the room, responding to red stickies (flags that help is needed) and providing assistance as needed. We would like to have at least 2 helpers at all times.

  • Time commitment: Any portion of 8:30am - 5pm Monday August 13th & Tuesday August 14th. Full day volunteers get a free lunch!

  • Skills Requirements: Knowlege of R (base, ggplot, dplyr), spreadsheets, shell/bash is helpful but not required.

  • Contact: Email Robin Donatello directly if you are interested.

Applied Statistics Research Assistant

  • Department: Joint research between Statistics & Chemistry

  • Project Details: The Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry is conducting a complete overhaul of how their General Chemistry (Chem 111) labs are run. This new setup is called Studio Labs and fully integrate lecture with lab, instead of having them as separate meeting times and activities. Research has shown that this type of active and engaged learning has a positive impact on student success and can lead to higher pass rates for this class. Using the new PHYS building as a catalyst, the department is making this change over the next three years. Pre and post surveys will be administered to assess the impact of this new lab implementation on faculty, staff and students. Surveys will be administered annually starting Fall 2018.

  • Time commitment: 5-10 hours/wk for 3 units of research credit. The initial workflow setup starts Spring 2019.

  • Skills Requirements: R, RStudio, One of (or equivalent) MATH 314, MATH 315, MATH/CSCI 385

  • Contact: Email Robin Donatello directly if you are interested.

Statistics Research Assistant

  • Department: Statistics

  • Project Details: Simulation based Statistical research on methods to handle missing and inconsistent data.

  • Time commitment: 3-10 hours/wk for 1-3 units of research credit.

  • Skills Requirements: Requires moderate to strong skills with R, knowledge of LaTeX (can be taught on demand). Ability to create and use user-driven functions, conduct simulations and visualize results. Serious work involved, requesting approx 5 hrs/week. Publication involved.

  • Contact: Email Robin Donatello directly if you are interested.

Have a campus job, research position, or project you want to advertise here? Email the DSI with your request.