Friday, August 28, 2015

Intro Physics Lab Manager, University of Washington, Seattle

https://uwhires.admin.washington.edu/eng/candidates/default.cfm?szCategory=JobList&szFormat=search


Req #:
123695
Department:PHYSICS
Appointing Department Web Address:https://sharepoint.washington.edu/phys/Pages/default.aspx
Job Location:Seattle Campus
Posting Date:08/18/2015 
Closing Info:Open Until Filled 
Salary:
Salary and benefits are competitive. Salary is commensurate with qualifications and experience. 
Notes:As a UW employee, you will enjoy generous benefits and work/life programs. For a complete description of our benefits for this position, please visit our website, click here.  
The University of Washington (UW) is proud to be one of the nation’s premier educational and research institutions. Our people are the most important asset in our pursuit of achieving excellence in education, research, and community service. Our staff not only enjoys outstanding benefits and professional growth opportunities, but also an environment noted for diversity, community involvement, intellectual excitement, artistic pursuits, and natural beauty. 

Our Department of PHYSICS has an outstanding opportunity for a Manager, Introductory PHYSICS Laboratories

This position reports to the Instructional Labs Senior Lecturer and Department Administrator and works closely with instructors teaching introductory PHYSICS laboratories.  The manager is responsible for daily operations of introductory laboratories associated with the introductory PHYSICS (1xx) sequence of courses. Laboratory topics cover the full range of PHYSICS typical in introductory courses, including experiments in mechanics, thermodynamics, electricity and magnetism, waves, optics and atomic and nuclear PHYSICS.  The lab manager is expected to oversee the labs, work closely with faculty to develop and improve experiments and related pedagogical materials, manage the introductory labs budget, and maintain a high quality, safe learning environment for instructors and students. 


Responsibilities include: 

•     Support and improve students’ learning experience: Work strategically with faculty instructors to improve educational experiences of students by researching and testing better ways to use apparatus to study basic PHYSICS concepts and make measurements.  Design, develop and improve experiments to use new technologies or improve clarity of presentation. 
•     Oversee the set-up of labs: Ensure that labs are properly prepared by staff and student hourly employees who set up and disassemble apparatuses in five to seven classrooms weekly during each academic term.  As necessary, assist with lab preparations, coordinating with other lab personnel and instructors. 
•     Supervise personnel: Interview and hire staff, assign and review work, conduct performance evaluations, and provide positive work environment and opportunities for professional growth for one Scientific Instructional Technician 1 or 2.  Also manage student hourly employees working short-term appointments in support positions: define tasks, train, and ensure completion of needed work to standards. 
•     Manage the experimental equipment collection: Inspect, maintain and repair existing equipment as  needed, ensure that apparatus operates properly prior to student use, identify problems or malfunctions with apparatus and replace or repair as necessary, keep current on advances in technology and propose updates, revisions or replacements to equipment or methods of use. 
•     Advise instructors and teaching assistants: Communicate principles of operation, configuration and use of apparatuses to instructional faculty and teaching assistants.  Develop and maintain documentation on apparatuses, experiments, other lab procedures and policies. 
•     Manage budget: Monitor and analyze purchases, ensuring that introductory labs remain within budgetary constraints, establish expenditure priorities, develop budgets including evaluating alternative equipment needs for new experiments, and prepare requests for additional expenditures based on revised or new experiments. 
•     Maintain Lab IT infrastructure: Work with department’s information technology and computer support group to set up, test, and troubleshoot the lab computers, network, and related hardware and software, including that needed for data acquisition, file sharing, and printing.  
•     Maintain a safe laboratory environment: Develop and implement appropriate procedures to comply with department and university safety rules, report safety issues to building administration personnel, and maintain lab materials and rooms in accordance with university’s offices of Environmental Health & Safety.     
  
Requirements: 
Bachelor’s degree in PHYSICS or closely related field, three to four years’ experience working in PHYSICS or other basic science instructional or research laboratory setting, demonstrated experience working with computerized experimental apparatus and computer networks, demonstrated experience working with students, ability to lift or move equipment weighing up to 50 pounds.
Equivalent education/experience will substitute for all minimum qualifications except when there are legal requirements, such as a license/certification/registration. 

Desired:   
Experience managing college-level instructional laboratories in basic science, machine shop and/or electronics design/construction/troubleshooting experience, post-baccalaureate study in basic or applied science, experience teaching science in a higher education setting.     

Conditions of Employment:        
Appointment to this position is contingent upon obtaining satisfactory results from a criminal background check 

Application Process: 
The application process for UW positions may include completion of a variety of online assessments to obtain additional information that will be used in the evaluation process.  These assessments may include Work Authorization, Criminal Conviction History, Cover Letter and/or others. Any assessments that you need to complete will appear on your screen as soon as you select “Apply to this position”. Once you begin an assessment, it must be completed at that time; if you do not complete the assessment you will be prompted to do so the next time you access your “My Jobs” page. If you select to take it later, it will appear on your "My Jobs" page to take when you are ready. Please note that your application will not be reviewed, and you will not be considered for this position until all required assessments have been completed.