The UC Irvine Education Research Initiative (ERI) and School of Biological Sciences are jointly looking for a Postdoctoral Scholar with expertise in quantitative and/or qualitative methodologies to carry out discipline-based educational research (DBER) exploring teaching and learning in higher education under the supervision of Dr. Brian Sato (Professor of Teaching, Molecular Biology & Biochemistry; Associate Dean, Division of Teaching Excellence and Innovation). This is a two-year position with a proposed start date of January 1, 2022 (negotiable).
The University of California, Irvine has a vibrant and collaborative community of discipline-based education researchers, education researchers, and STEM educators striving to provide our highly diverse student population with a premier learning experience. The Education Research Initiative is housed within the Division of Teaching Excellence and Innovation (DTEI) and aims to bring together researchers across the campus interested in conducting education research and implementing this research into practice. The Postdoctoral Scholar will collaborate with UCI faculty, postdocs, and graduate students, primarily within STEM, Education, and Social Science disciplines, on ERI projects. A main focus of the work will be an NSF-funded project (DUE 1821724) to examine the impact of teaching-focused faculty on student and faculty outcomes, using a variety of data sources (institutional data, student and faculty survey and interview data, classroom observation data, and social network data, among others). In particular, we are interested in exploring faculty conceptions of teaching and learning, their professional identity, and their perceptions regarding their role and fit within their departments and how these constructs relate to student outcomes.
Relevant research projects will involve survey design and analysis, accessing, cleaning, and analyzing institutional data, and modeling of nested data. Other potential areas that the postdoc could contribute to involve coding and analysis of interview data, social network analysis, and multiple regression analysis. Candidates must have a Ph.D. or equivalent in an Education, Social Science, or STEM Education discipline; experience in conducting research on teaching and learning; outstanding verbal and written communication skills; a successful record of publication and presentations; and the ability to work well with university faculty. Grant writing experience is also a plus and the individual will have opportunities to lead proposal writing efforts.
Applications should be submitted online at https://recruit.ap.uci.edu/
