Lab Manager

Department

SSD Comparative Human Development - Staff and Temporary Employees - Casillas

About the Department

The Department of Comparative Human Development at the University of Chicago is an interdisciplinary department founded in 1940 whose faculty includes anthropologists, biologists, linguists, psychologists, sociologists, and methodologists whose theories and methods cross individual social sciences. Research in the department explores the social, cultural, psychological, and biological processes of change that vary across time, between individuals, between societies and cultures, and between species. Please see our website, https://humdev.uchicago.edu.

The Chatter Lab is part of the University of Chicago department of Comparative Human Development, which is an interdisciplinary program at the critical edge of thought and research in the social sciences examining what it means to be human. Department members conduct interdisciplinary, holistic, and comparative research and scholarship focused on individual lives within various, changing, and heterogeneous contexts. The Chatter Lab also maintains close connections with members of the nearby Psychology and Linguistics departments. Read more about the area around the university here: https://visit.uchicago.edu/neighborhood-attractions/.

Job Summary

The job provides technical support activities related to scientific research projects. Ensures compliance of research activities with institutional, state, and federal regulatory policies, procedures, directives and mandates. Assists in drafting presentations on research findings.

The University of Chicago Chatter Lab (https://chatterlab.uchicago.edu/) seeks a technically skilled and enthusiastic lab manager to help conduct research on language processing and language learning in natural conversational contexts. Our lab conducts observational and experiment-based studies of language behavior in adults and children across multiple cultural and linguistic settings. The use of open source tools for the annotation and automated analysis of audio, image, and eye-tracking data is a key component of our work. The lab manager is responsible for a range of tasks that aid in the smooth production of high quality research (see Responsibilities below). In collaboration with PI Casillas, the lab manager will also be able to lead their own research studies, give scientific presentations, and contribute to publications. This position is a great fit for those looking to pursue a PhD in linguistics, psycholinguistics, developmental psychology, or related field, particularly those with good foundational scripting skills who want to deepen their expertise. The initial appointment is for one year, with the possibility to extend depending on performance and mutual suitability.

The Chatter Lab is founded on the principle that diversity in everyday language use is key to the study of human language cognition. We welcome opportunities to work with scholars from all walks of life, and particularly encourage those coming from marginalized groups to reach out if interested in working with us. The University of Chicago is an equal opportunity employer; read more at https://equalopportunityprograms.uchicago.edu/.

Responsibilities

• Managing existing audio-, image-, and text-based datasets:
• Setting up and applying open-source tools to the data
• Maintaining the lab website
• Provides technical and administrative support for a research project.
• Collects and enters data. Assists in analyzing data. Assists with preparation of reports, manuscripts and other documents.
• Performs other related work as needed
• Facilitating human subjects data collection and processing:
• Training new lab members on rules and systems for participant recruitment and running behavioral studies in the lab
• Managing data and lab equipment tracking systems
• Managing research assistants who are working on manual data annotation
• Aiding lab members in experiment programming and automated stimulus creation
• Contributing to manuscript preparation:
• Aiding lab members in getting their data, code, and manuscripts on GitHub
• Fixing formatting errors and generating bibliographies in manuscripts
• Leading lab events:
• Organizing routine meetings, e.g., weekly lab meetings and quarterly check-ins
• Co-organizing public-facing lab events, e.g., museum research demonstrations
• Helping run other special events, e.g., international workshops hosted by the lab, visits to the lab by distant collaborators, etc
• Contributing to new tool development for annotation/analysis
• Documenting data treatments and protocols for annotation/analysis
• Leading metadata and directory structure organization and archival
• Provides technical and administrative support for a research project
• Collects and enters data. Assists in analyzing data. Assists with preparation of reports, manuscripts and other documents
• Provides other related work as needed

Minimum Qualifications

Education:

Minimum requirements include vocational training, apprenticeships or the equivalent experience in related field (not typically required to have a four-year degree).

Work Experience:

Minimum requirements include knowledge and skills developed through 2-5 years of work experience in a related job discipline.

Certifications:

---

Preferred Qualifications

Education:

• Bachelor’s degree or higher in linguistics, psychology, cognitive science, data science, statistics, applied mathematics, or a related field

Technical Knowledge and Skills:

• Candidates must demonstrate moderate-to-advanced programming skills with R and/or Python and must have demonstrated experience with GitHub

• High verbal and written competence in English

Preferred Competencies

• Should be organized

• Interested in the lab’s research themes. Enthusiastic about both the technical and human subjects aspects of this position

• Strongly encouraged to share any experience they have with human subjects testing, as well as any further expertise with scripting tools, particularly those relating to media editing (e.g., ffmpeg, Praat) and experiment building (e.g., E-Prime, Presentation)

• Fluency in Spanish is highly desired

Application Documents

• Curriculum Vitae (required)

• Cover letter including:Motivation Fit for the position, Link to a GitHub or other webpage featuring recent scripting projects (required)

• References (3) (required)

When applying, the document(s) MUST be uploaded via the My Experience page, in the section titled Application Documents of the application.

Job Family

Research

Role Impact

Individual Contributor

Scheduled Weekly Hours

37.5

Drug Test Required

No

Health Screen Required

No

Motor Vehicle Record Inquiry Required

No

Pay Rate Type

Hourly

​
FLSA Status

Non-Exempt

​
Pay Range

$20.45 - $26.47

The included pay rate or range represents the University’s good faith estimate of the possible compensation offer for this role at the time of posting.

Benefits Eligible

Yes

The University of Chicago offers a wide range of benefits programs and resources for eligible employees, including health, retirement, and paid time off. Information about the benefit offerings can be found in the Benefits Guidebook.

Posting Statement

The University of Chicago is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, or expression, national or ethnic origin, shared ancestry, age, status as an individual with a disability, military or veteran status, genetic information, or other protected classes under the law. For additional information please see the University's Notice of Nondiscrimination.

 

Job seekers in need of a reasonable accommodation to complete the application process should call 773-702-5800 or submit a request via Applicant Inquiry Form.

 

All offers of employment are contingent upon a background check that includes a review of conviction history.  A conviction does not automatically preclude University employment.  Rather, the University considers conviction information on a case-by-case basis and assesses the nature of the offense, the circumstances surrounding it, the proximity in time of the conviction, and its relevance to the position.

 

The University of Chicago's Annual Security & Fire Safety Report (Report) provides information about University offices and programs that provide safety support, crime and fire statistics, emergency response and communications plans, and other policies and information. The Report can be accessed online at: http://securityreport.uchicago.edu. Paper copies of the Report are available, upon request, from the University of Chicago Police Department, 850 E. 61st Street, Chicago, IL 60637.