Office of Research, Economic & Community Development

About the University of Missouri-St. Louis
The University of Missouri-St. Louis (UMSL) is a vibrant, urban institution and the only public research university in eastern Missouri. Designated as a doctoral university with high research activity and as a community-engaged institution by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, UMSL is home to nationally ranked programs in Criminal Justice, Nursing, Psychology, and Business and to the nationally regarded Missouri Institute for Mental Health. UMSL’s world-class researchers actively collaborate across disciplines to generate new knowledge and translate research into practice to improve people’s lives in real and tangible ways. The institution provides an outstanding environment for a postdoctoral researcher in statistics to gain experience in working with social science and clinical researchers working in diverse areas including AIDS, addiction, health disparities, racial equity, trauma, PTSD, policing, and justice reform.

Position Summary:
Under the direction of the Vice Chancellor for Research, Economic & Community Development, the Statistician will provide statistical consulting and training to UMSL faculty across six colleges and research centers on a fee for service basis. The Statistician will provide consultation and assistance to faculty in preparing grant applications and manuscripts, study design, selection of appropriate research methodology, power and sample size calculations. In addition, this position will provide guidance and help using statistical software packages for data analysis and data visualization. This may include but is not limited to quantitative and qualitative analyses, mixed methods, clinical trials, meta-analyses, systematic reviews, observational studies, or surveys.

The individual selected for this position must have the ability to translate complex statistical ideas or methods and to effectively communicate with researchers about the underlying assumptions of the methods being used, interpretation of findings, and strengths and limitations of selected methods. The individual in this position will focus on the application of statistical methods to support grant applications and manuscripts toward advancing scientific research and increasing the likelihood of funding of various projects across multiple colleges at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. The individual in this position will receive postdoctoral mentoring from social sciences faculty through an advisory committee structure.

Responsibilities:

• Provides outstanding statistical consulting support to investigators to determine their needs with respect to study design, statistical methods, sample size and statistical power, data analysis and presentation
• Carries out appropriate methodologic procedures for statistical analysis of data, ranging from descriptive statistics to exploratory data analyses to causal inference.
• Meets regularly with study investigators and teams, working collaboratively to secure extramural funding
• Write, test, document, and implement computer code and syntax using standard programs that perform simple and complex statistical analyses and other computations.
• Communicate with investigators at collaborating institutions regarding data analysis issues; determine appropriate analysis techniques for answering the questions of interest; communicate results to investigating researchers in writing.
• Assist in judging the validity of data obtained and recommend additional tests and/or modifications to the analysis.
• Consults with faculty on the selection and use of appropriate statistical methods and statistical software such as STATA, SAS, SPSS, R for quantitative analyses, including ANOVA, MANOVA, regression, discriminant analyses, decision trees, time-series analyses, structural equation modeling, multi-level modeling, etc.
• Assists faculty in preparing sections of grant proposals, reports, presentations, and advanced data visualization related to statistical analyses
• Conducts workshops and professional development sessions for faculty, staff, and/or students on statistical methods, data analysis and visualization, and related topics to increase the analytic capabilities of research teams across colleges

Qualifications
A PhD. In Statistics, Biostatistics, Applied Data Science, Quantitative psychology, Econometrics, or related social sciences with specialization in statistical applications

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:

• Proficiency in multiple statistical programming languages including R, SAS, SPSS, STATA, and other reporting and statistical software
• Experience with use of SAS/STATA/R to navigate relational databases and data step programming to perform data manipulation as needed for statistical analysis and or data presentation
• Experience with Bayesian statistical methods and analyses
• Demonstrated skills to develop statistical analysis plans, determine power calculation and sample size analysis, as well as analyze and interpret statistical data and provide final reports
• Outstanding ability to communicate complex information to both technical and non-technical audiences
• Strong interpersonal skills to consult with researchers and to understand their research and statistical consulting needs
• Excellent analytical and problem-solving skills
• Experience or capacity to work with complex survey data, longitudinal data analysis, and advanced analytical methods
• Experience with or capacity to work with data management of administrative claims data, electronic health records, and other large datasets desirable
• Strong written and verbal communication skills including experience preparing and presenting reports
• Demonstrated record of successfully delivering projects on time and managing multiple projects on time
• Ability to use web based scholarly search engines including PubMed and Google Scholar
• Knowledge of SQL and capacity for using it for basic data import and export

Salary: Compensation for this position will be consistent with 2021 NIH postdoctoral stipend rates ranging from $53,760 with no experience to $54,540 with two years of experience.

To Apply:
Applicants must combine all application materials (cover letter, resume, and list of three references with contact information) into one PDF or Microsoft Word document and upload as a resume attachment. Limit document name to 50 characters. Maximum size limit is 11MB. Do not include special characters (e.g., /, &, %, etc.).

For questions about how applicants apply, please call (314) 516-5805, or if you are experiencing technical problems, please email mailto:pshrsupport@umsystem.edu

Benefit Summary:
The University of Missouri, St. Louis offers benefit-eligible employees a wide variety of benefits including; health, dental and vision coverage effective on the first day of employment, vacation & sick time accrual, four personal days per year, tuition assistance for employees and their dependents, pension and employee & dependent life insurance. For more information about our benefits, please visit http://www.umsystem.edu/totalrewards/benefits.

Equal Employment Opportunity:
UMSL is an equal access, equal opportunity, affirmative action employer that is fully committed to achieving a diverse faculty and staff. Equal Opportunity is and shall be provided for all employees and applicants for employment on the basis of their demonstrated ability and competence without unlawful discrimination on the basis of their race, color, national origin, ancestry, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, genetic information, disability, or protected veteran status.