Project Assistant

The University of Southern California (USC), founded in 1880, is located in the heart of downtown L.A. and is the largest private employer in the City of Los Angeles. As an employee of USC, you will be a part of a world-class research university and a member of the “Trojan Family,” which is comprised of the faculty, staff, and students that make the university a great place to work.  

The USC Dana and David Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences is seeking a Project Assistant in the Department of Psychology. The largest and oldest of the USC schools, USC Dornsife functions as the academic core of the university, offering courses and advancing knowledge across the humanities, social sciences and natural sciences.
 

The USC Department of Psychology is home to a collaborative community studying development, cognition, emotion, and the brain using behavioral, computational, and neuroimaging methods. Within the department, the Kosakowski Lab is a new and growing developmental cognitive neuroscience lab investigating how infants’ brains develop to support perception and cognition. The lab conducts behavioral and awake-infant fMRI studies with infants and families and is committed to rigorous, collaborative, and inclusive science.

This is a full-time, one-year fixed-term position, with the possibility of renewal contingent on satisfactory performance, funding, and approval. The standard schedule is 37.5 hours per week and may occasionally include evenings or weekends to accommodate participant visits. The Project Assistant will work closely with the principal investigator and other members of a small and growing research lab. Specific responsibilities include:

• Recruit, screen, and schedule infant participants and communicate professionally and compassionately with families.
• Maintain accurate and timely participant information, study records, and scheduling information in REDCap and other approved systems.
• Conduct behavioral and awake-infant fMRI research visits according to established protocols.
• After supervised training and competency sign-off, lead awake-infant fMRI visits, including obtaining informed consent, preparing infants for scanning, operating required equipment, and coordinating supporting research assistants, graduate students, and postdoctoral fellows.
• Train research assistants on established participant-interaction and data-collection procedures after demonstrating personal competency in those procedures.
• Coordinate scanner reservations and ensure that unused reservations are cancelled promptly.
• Serve as the operational point person for shared participant communications, REDCap records, and scanner scheduling, while collaborating with graduate students and postdoctoral fellows who may also perform these tasks for their projects.
• Track IRB personnel, required training, and regulatory deadlines and promptly communicate any issue that could interrupt data collection or compromise protocol compliance.
• Support routine lab operations, including maintaining supplies and equipment, organizing shared procedural documentation, and coordinating routine purchase and access requests.
• Participate actively in lab meetings, read assigned background materials, and develop an understanding of the scientific questions motivating the lab’s research.
• Communicate problems, delays, and uncertainties promptly and seek guidance when an issue exceeds established procedures.

After the employee demonstrates consistent performance of the core responsibilities, optional professional-development opportunities may include data organization and quality control, use or modification of existing code, routine automation, and assistance with IRB materials or other research activities.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree or relevant coursework or experience in psychology, neuroscience, cognitive science, child development, or a related field.
• Direct experience interacting with infants and their caregivers, preferably in a research, clinical, educational, or childcare setting.
• Experience with human-subjects research, participant recruitment, scheduling, informed consent, or data collection.
• Demonstrated comfort interacting calmly, safely, and warmly with infants and families.
• Strong organizational skills, attention to detail, and reliable follow-through on time-sensitive responsibilities.
• Demonstrated ability to learn, retain, and accurately apply multi-step procedures and incorporate feedback.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills and the ability to interact professionally with families, students, faculty, and staff.
• Ability to work independently after training, exercise sound judgment within established procedures, and communicate problems or uncertainties promptly.
• Ability to collaborate with and provide procedural training to undergraduate research assistants.
• Demonstrated intellectual interest in infant development, social cognition, developmental cognitive neuroscience, or the lab’s research questions.
• Familiarity with REDCap, human-subjects research regulations, or MRI research is helpful but not required.
• Experience with data organization, quality control, or coding in R, Python, MATLAB, shell scripting, or a similar language is helpful but not required.

Hourly range: The hourly rate range for this position is $25.96-$33.75. When extending an offer of employment, the University of Southern California considers factors such as (but not limited to) the scope and responsibilities of the position, the candidate’s work experience, education/training, key skills, internal peer equity, federal, state and local laws, contractual stipulations, grant funding, as well as external market and organizational considerations.

Performs other related duties as assigned or requested. The university reserves the right to add or change duties at any time.

Required Documents and Additional Information:

• Resume and cover letter required (may be uploaded as one file). Please do not submit your application without these documents.
• Job openings are posted for a minimum of (5) five business days. This job may be removed from posting boards and filled any time after the minimum posting period has ended, so please apply on the same business day if interested.
• Fixed-term position.
• USC has excellent benefits, including health benefits for staff and their family with access to the renowned university medical network; eligibility for retirement plans with employer contributions after six months of employment; tuition benefits for staff and their family; free Professional Development classes; central Los Angeles location with easy access to commuter trains, buses and free tram pick up services; discounts to sporting and other campus events.

Minimum Education: High school or equivalent
Minimum Experience: 1 year
Minimum Field of Expertise: Knowledge of data collection procedures and some experience with proposal preparation and production of technical documents

                                                  

USC is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, protected veteran status, disability, or any other characteristic protected by law or USC policy. USC observes affirmative action obligations consistent with state and federal law. USC will consider for employment all qualified applicants with criminal records in a manner consistent with applicable laws and regulations, including the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance for employers and the Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring Ordinance, and with due consideration for patient and student safety. Please refer to the Background Screening Policy Appendix D for specific employment screen implications for the position for which you are applying. 

We provide reasonable accommodations to applicants and employees with disabilities. Applicants with questions about access or requiring a reasonable accommodation for any part of the application or hiring process should contact USC Human Resources by phone at (213) 821-8100, or by email at [email protected]. Inquiries will be treated as confidential to the extent permitted by law.

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If you are a current USC employee, please apply to this  USC job posting in Workday by copying and pasting this link into your browser:

https://wd5.myworkday.com/usc/d/inst/1$9925/9925$153052.htmld