Stanford Speech & Cognitive Development Lab Research Coordinator

This position has been deemed critical by the School of Humanities and Sciences Dean’s Office and is exempt from the hiring freeze.

Work Arrangement: On-Site Only.

Budgeted Salary: The budgeted hourly rate for this position is $32.75 to $36.38.

The School of Humanities and Sciences (H&S) is the foundation of a liberal arts education at Stanford. The school encompasses 24 departments and 25 interdisciplinary programs. H&S is home to fundamental and applied research, where free, open, and critical inquiry is pursued across disciplines. As the university’s largest school, H&S serves as the foundation of a Stanford undergraduate education no matter which discipline students pursue as a major. Graduate students work alongside world-renowned faculty to pursue and shape foundational research that leads to breakthroughs and discoveries that shed new light on the past, influence the present, and shape the future. Together, faculty and students in H&S engage in inspirational teaching, learning, and research every day.

Department/Program Description: 

The Department of Linguistics at Stanford studies how language works across diverse human communities. Our research spans theoretical linguistics, language acquisition, phonetics, sociolinguistics, and computational approaches to understanding human communication. The Stanford Speech & Cognitive Development Lab investigates how children master speech and language, with particular focus on typical development and atypical populations including children with hearing loss. We combine classic methods in linguistic phonetics and psycholinguistics, such as in-situ fieldwork, articulatory modeling, and acoustic measurement, with newer approaches including crowdsourcing, eye-tracking, and analysis of large-scale naturalistic speech databases. Learn more at spoglab.stanford.edu.

Position Summary

The Department of Linguistics is seeking a Stanford Speech & Cognitive Development Lab Research Coordinator (Social Science Research Coordinator) to support an active research program studying speech and language development in infants and children, including children who are deaf/hard-of-hearing. The Research Coordinator will work under the general supervision of Assistant Professor Meg Cychosz and serve as the public face of the laboratory, coordinating recruitment and data collection at partner clinical sites including hospitals, audiology clinics, and specialized preschools. This position requires someone who can work independently with families of young children (including medically complex populations), oversee undergraduate research assistants, manage longitudinal data collection protocols, and coordinate across multiple research sites. The ideal candidate will have experience working with children, strong organizational and interpersonal skills, and the ability to navigate clinical environments professionally. Some background in speech-language pathology, audiology, or related fields is highly preferred but not required.

Responsibilities will include but not limited to:

Assist in designing experiments and coordinating research protocols, exercising independent initiative and judgment in planning experimental procedures, defining variables, and coordinating data collection across multiple sites 

 

Supervise undergraduate research assistants, including training on experimental techniques, oversight of data collection with children, and consultation on project work; act as liaison between the lab, clinical partners, and research assistants 

 

Act as public face of the laboratory to interface with schools, clinics, and families to facilitate recruitment and retention of children and families for research; give public-facing research talks to community stakeholders; attend clinical rounds at hospitals to monitor eligible research participants; establish relationships with families of children with hearing loss who are followed longitudinally 

 

Complete project-related administrative and budgetary responsibilities including managing participant compensation, coordinating off-site testing at clinics and schools, managing equipment ordering and maintenance, ensuring research assistants are scheduled and compensated appropriately; manage annual budget of approximately $20,000 

 

Solve problems and make decisions which affect the direction of the research and result in independent contributions to the overall project; use clinical or research background to interpret behavioral data and provide insight into differences observed between children with and without hearing loss or from multilingual backgrounds 

 

Co-author sections of research publications describing data collection techniques (eye-tracking in infants and toddlers), standardized assessments of speech and language development, and large-scale audio recordings collected in naturalistic home environments 

 

Conduct eye-tracking experiments and administer standardized assessments measuring cognition, verbal skill, expressive communication, and vocabulary in infants, toddlers, and preschoolers; score and interpret assessments under supervision of the primary investigator 

 

This is a 100% FTE, non-exempt, fixed-term position for 1 year, with a possible renewal. 

Preferred Requirements

In addition, preferred requirements include:

Clinical experience in pediatric populations

Experience working with children, particularly infants, toddlers, and preschoolers

Experience working with children with hearing loss, cochlear implants, or other communication disorders

Experience conducting developmental research or administering standardized assessments

Experience with eye-tracking or other behavioral research methodologies

Strong interpersonal skills and ability to build rapport with families and clinical partners

Excellent organizational and time management skills for coordinating longitudinal research

Ability to work independently and make sound judgments in clinical settings

Valid driver's license and ability to travel regularly to partner sites in the Bay Area

Bachelor of Arts degree in an applicable social science related field (psychology, linguistics, human development, speech-language pathology, audiology, or related discipline)

 

Responsibilities

Core Duties:

• Plan, research, prepare and produce professional-quality digitalmedia for instruction, promotional programs, location and studioprograms, live video conferences and webcasts, live-on-tape studio,and/or other communicative purposes for both internal and externalaudiences.

• Play an active role in planning, advising and partnering withclients on strategic and creative projects requiring extensive subjectmatter knowledge within time and cost constraints.

• Take independent ownership of large, complex digital mediaprojects. Perform the full range of the digital media project cycle:initiating, planning, producing, refinement, delivery, andarchiving.

• Develop and market digital services, and manage all aspects ofcapturing, recording, and transmitting of all digital media productions,video and/or images to internal and external clients. Provide outreachwithin and across departments of effective applications of digitalmedia.

• Create and oversee the creation of original visual content andproduce high impact visual storytelling. Manage process from conception,to production, to completion across a diverse array of communicationschannels and media utilizing best practice standards that fosterphotographic and video excellence.

• Consult with, and help faculty and staff to incorporate digitalmedia into research projects, presentations, course design and curriculain support of student learning or departmental communicationgoals.

• Manage all aspects of capturing, recording, and transmitting ofall digital media productions, video and/or images for internal andexternal clients.

• May contribute to development of digital media goals, objectives,policies, procedures, and/or manage budget for area ofresponsibility.

• May serve as internal project leader and provide guidance andtraining to other staff.

Minimum Education andExperience

Bachelor's degree and seven years of relevant experience orcombination of education and relevant experience.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

• Expert level technical experience using digital media equipment,video creation, editing software, and/or motion graphics and effectssoftware.

• Comprehensive knowledge in production techniques includingvideography, compression and file delivery and other productionformats.

• Extensive knowledge of all aspects of professional qualityproductions, including field and studio camera, lighting, sound andediting,

• Proven savvy and understanding of online video environment andonline distribution.

• Ability to independently manage a variety of simultaneousprojects within tight deadlines, excellent organizational and timemanagement skills.

• Demonstrated experience leading and training others.

• Ability to communicate and articulate digital media products andoptions and adapt to alternatives when appropriate.

• Excellent interpersonal skills, mature judgment, and diplomacyrequired to interact effectively with and provide customer service to abroad audience, including high-level executives and faculty.

• Ability to work independently as well as effectively in acollaborative team environment.

• Experience planning, coordinating, and executing archivaldigitization projects.