Innovations for Youth (i4Y), a youth equity research lab at UC Berkeley, has an opening for a twelve-month, in-residence postdoctoral scholar in social epidemiology and biostatistics. The post-doctoral scholar’s responsibilities will be intellectual and highly-skilled contributions to the center’s ongoing projects, with a focus on developing skills in population size estimation of hidden populations. The postdoctoral scholar will collaborate with faculty at UC Berkeley and UCSF to conduct population size estimation of youth experiencing homelessness in 6 California communities: Long Beach, San Diego, San Benito/Monterey/Salinas, Oakland/Alameda County, Visalia/Kings/Tulare, and Lake County. The principal method that will be employed will be a capture-recapture/multiple systems estimation approach applied to administrative data from providers and government agencies from each community.
The work is part of a larger study being conducted by our community-partnered lab, Youth and Allies Against Homelessness (or YAAH), funded by the California Interagency Council on Homelessness (Cal-ICH) to evaluate the impact of state funding on services for youth experiencing homelessness in California.
YAAH is engaged in high-level collaborations with local, state and academic partners and leaders in the field, including, but not limited to, Covenant House International, the California Interagency Council on Homelessness (Cal-ICH), the Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative (BHHI), and Larkin Street Youth Services. We conduct research and evaluation studies with the aim of generating a body of evidence that can be used to inform programs and policies to prevent, address and end youth homelessness.
We are ideally seeking candidates who are available to start asap or as of July 1st, 2024, but this is not required.
The postdoctoral scholar hired in this role will:
-
Conduct population size estimations. The postdoctoral scholar will be trained in conventional and novel population size estimation methods. Statistical methods employed for the capture-recapture analysis may involve regression-based methods (e.g., log-linear modeling), Bayesian modeling, and semi-parametric statistical modeling (including machine learning). Prior experience in population size estimation is welcome but not necessary.
-
Collect, manage, and encode administrative data. In collaboration with the research team, identify and obtain administrative data from multiple sectors in each of the target communities that will be encoded at the individual-level to enable linking.
-
Write academic publications and publicly-facing reports. The postdoctoral scholar will be encouraged and supported to take the lead in writing and publishing peer-reviewed publications and publicly-facing reports resulting from this work. The postdoctoral scholar will also participate in the preparation of additional peer-reviewed publications regarding other aspects of the YAAH lab’s work.
-
Disseminate findings. Summarize findings employing text, tables and data visualizations for a range of audiences, including youth leaders, community providers, local and state government staff, policy makers, and academic audiences. Participate in and/or lead the dissemination of scholarly knowledge in webinars, and academic or conference presentations.
-
Mentor undergraduates. The postdoctoral scholar will have the opportunity to mentor undergraduates in data science who will support the population estimation activities.
Your mentorship will come from two faculty members: Professor Colette (Coco) Auerswald at UC Berkeley, with whom you will meet regularly, and Professor Paul Wesson at UCSF, who will support the specific population size estimation methods. You will also partner with our YAAH project coordinator and have access to mentorship from other faculty within i4Y. The postdoc will also participate directly in community engagement regarding data management and dissemination of findings. i4Y will facilitate collaborative opportunities with partner organizations and provide methodological consultation through campus resources (e.g., dLab, xLab, Ethnographic Cafe). i4Y will also facilitate connections to UC Berkeley initiatives related to diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging, as well as professional development opportunities and access to the support of the Berkeley Postdoctoral Association. Candidates should have or be completing a PhD in epidemiology/statistics/biostatistics or other quantitative field with strong quantitative, methodologic, and statistical analysis skills. Knowledge of R programming language required. SAS or STATA is welcome to prepare large data sets but not required. Candidates with the following skills are encouraged to apply: excellent quantitative and applied research skills in methodology development and data analysis (including data linkage, regression analysis, missing data), data cleaning of large administrative data sets, and strong oral and written communication skills. Experience with machine learning approaches (SuperLearner, cross-validation) and SQL programming language proficiency a plus.
Please communicate your interest in this full-time position, by submitting your cover letter, CV, the names of 3 academic references, and the pdf(s) of up to two publications to i4Y@berkeley.eduIn expressing your interest, please include the following:
-
Your earliest possible start date for this postdoctoral position (all degree requirements for a doctoral degree must be completed before start date) and ideal start date, in the first paragraph of your cover letter.
-
Please include information about your interest in the position, your training goals for the post-doc, and your ideal working conditions.
-
This position may require some travel to our target communities listed above to support secure data transfer. Please indicate if you live in California or are capable of relocating to California.
-
If you have lived experience of homelessness and you are comfortable sharing that fact, please do so. We honor your privacy regarding your experience, but your lived expertise would be relevant to your work with us.
-
Please share any experience you have with teaching and/or mentorship
-
Your additional expertise, including: quantitative work regarding historically marginalized populations; publishing peer-reviewed papers; IRB application and modification; mentorship and providing research supervision; research dissemination in both academic and non-academic settings; conducting literature reviews; research or policy experience regarding homelessness or youth homelessness and/or work or service with people experiencing homelessness.
-
We value teamwork, collaboration and mutual support in our laboratory. In what way(s) have your work and actions to date demonstrated those qualities?
This position requires that all Ph.D. degree requirements be completed prior to start date.
Consideration will be given on a rolling basis until the position is filled.
The University of California is an Equal Opportunity / Affirmative Action Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, age or protected veteran status. For the complete UC nondiscrimination and affirmative action policy see: http://policy.ucop.edu/doc/4000376/NondiscrimAffirmAct. Information about salary and benefits can be explored with the Visiting Scholars and Postdoctoral Affairs (VSPA - https://vspa.berkeley.edu/why-berkeley) office. For salary tables, see: https://www.ucop.edu/academic-personnel-programs/_files/2023-24/oct-2023-acad-salary-scales/t23.pd