RESEARCH FELLOW, DATA SCIENTIST, Antiracist Tech Initiative (ATI)

Tracking Code3241Job Description

The mission of the Boston University Center for Antiracist Research is to convene varied researchers and practitioners to figure out novel and practical ways to understand, explain, and solve seemingly intractable problems of racial inequity and injustice. We foster exhaustive racial research, research-based policy innovation, data-driven educational and advocacy campaigns, and narrative-change initiatives. We are working toward building an antiracist society that ensures equity and justice for all.

The BU Center for Antiracist Research founded in 2020 by Dr. Ibram Kendi the Center is rapidly growing and looking for passionate individuals to join their dedicated research teams and initiatives.

This Data Scientist involves developing and deploying data science to solve problems of racial inequity in the technology industry. The types of data include, but are not limited to, survey, text, network, spatial, and experimental data. The Research Fellow will work closely Center leadership and research teams to construct datasets, conduct various analyses and deploy statistical models on large datasets about racial inequity in tech, and create public-facing visualizations. This role reports to Assistant and Associate Directors for the Antiracist Tech Initiative.

Responsibilities:

• Work closely with ATI Directors, data scientists, and research teams to design and implement rigorous research designs—including but not limited to randomized control trials, survey experiments, behavioral interventions, qualitative interviews, and econometric analyses.
  • Construct large datasets of structured and unstructured data from disparate sources.
  • Clean and validate data to ensure accuracy, completeness, and uniformity.
  • Archive data workflow and create codebooks for research teams.
  • Analyze data for trends and patterns, and interpret data with a clear objective in mind.
  • Communicate findings to stakeholders using visualization, reporting, and other means.
  • Conduct econometric analysis using STATA or similar statistical software on administrative data sets, survey data and/or other source of incoming data.
  Responsible for cleaning data, preparing data repositories and corresponding documentation, doing primary analysis, and presenting the results in various formats (tables/graphs/presentations, etc).
  • Support authorship of academic papers, presentations, white papers, and other publications by conducting analyses and producing visualizations.
  • Develop and implement policies, processes, and systems to optimize operational efficiency, and manage current and future organizational structure.
  • Manage part-time research assistants.
  • Other duties as assigned.

Requirements:

• Significant experience with data cleaning, analysis, transfer, visualization of large administrative data sets.

• Significant experience with data cleaning, analysis, transfer, visualization of large administrative data sets.
• Proficiency with data mining and statistical analysis.
• Experience with R, Python, or other languages to manipulate data and draw insights from large data sets.
• Proficiency with applying quantitative research methods in an academic, commercial, or entrepreneurial capacity.
• Ability to take initiative and manage multiple projects with minimal supervision, including strong time management skills.
• Self-motivated and experience working collaboratively to build consensus in a dynamic and fast-paced environment
  
  

Education & Training:

Master’s degree or above in quantitative social science, statistics, mathematics, computer science or another related quantitative field and a background in social sciences.

Two or more years of relevant post-master’s professional experience is preferred. Experience working with field experiments, large datasets, and computational social science research methods is preferred.

This position will be a one year research appointment, with the possibility of renewal contingent upon funding.

We are an equal opportunity employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law. We are a VEVRAA Federal Contractor.

Job LocationBOSTON, Massachusetts, United StatesPosition TypeFull-Time/Regular