Managing Director, Center Human and Robot Co-Adaption

Job Posting Title

Managing Director, Center for Human and Robot Co-Adaption

Hiring Department:
Department of Computer Science

Position Open To:
All Applicants

Weekly Scheduled

Hours:

40

FLSA Status:
Exempt from FLSA

Earliest

Start Date:

Immediately

Position Duration:
Expected to Continue

Location:

UT MAIN CAMPUS

The Center for Human and Robot Co-Adaptation (HRC) brings together six universities:
The University of Texas at Austin, Indiana University Bloomington, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Tufts University, University of Utah, and Yale University. Together, we study how people and robots can, do, and might adapt to one another over months and years as needs, skills, expectations, and social contexts change. The Center unites researchers across robotics, AI, cognitive science, social science, data, and ethics to establish a new science of human-robot co-adaptation.

This science will be developed, tested, and refined through the Human Environment with Robots (HERO) Facility Network: long-term deployments of assistive robots in real-world settings including student dorms, cafés, museums, homes, hospitals, and assisted-living facilities.

The Center is supported by a five-year, $30 million award from the National Science Foundation through its Science and Technology Centers (STC) program.

The Managing Director is the senior-most staff member, and serves as an operating leader for the Center. They work with the Center Director and the Leadership Team to execute and deliver on the Center's strategic vision. This will require coordinated execution across all universities, research threads, the HERO facility network, and the Center's education, outreach, industry, ethics, and advisory committees. The ideal candidate will take initiative to understand and identify key needs for the success of the Center, and proactively assist the team to succeed in the Center's mission.

• Represent the team in presenting the vision, activities, and achievements of the Center to visitors, university leadership, members of NSF, news and media, and government representatives
• Assist Center Director and Leadership Team in garnering cross-center coordination, alignment, and ownership of the vision of the Center. This will involve getting to know the team, facilitating connections between members as needed, identifying unique interest- and expertise- based opportunities for the Center
• Assist in best matching Center resources and personnel to the activities, so as to best meet the goals of the Center

• Provide oversight for of Center activities, supporting cross-program alignment with key Center goals and objectives, milestones and deliverables, reporting, and dissemination.
• Establish Center-wide processes that maximize cross-center coordination and synergies and connect functions with processes:
  Functions: e.g., Development of education materials; HERO participatory design workshops; HERO robot deployments;
  Processes: e.g., gantt charts for tracking, distributed meeting invites, organizing communication channels like Slack, syncing calendars, etc
• Help boards and committees operate effectively, including the External Advisory Committee, the Industry Advisory Board, the HERO Facility Board, the Ethics Board, and the Strategic Growth Council. Support committee leadership, goal and agenda setting, cross-project communication, and membership turnover.
• Organize major Center events including annual strategic planning, site visits, panels, meetings, and other Center-wide activities.
• Provide operational direction and oversight to Center Staff:
  Hardware engineer, Software engineer, Outreach coordinator, Education coordinator