Postdoctoral Research Associate

Postdoctoral Research Associate

Texas A&M Agri Life's Institute for Advancing Health Through Agriculture (IHA) Healthy Living program, based at the Agri Life Center at Dallas, seeks a Postdoctoral Research Associate to work in close collaboration and coordination with the Healthy Living team, led by IHA Associate Director, Dr. Rebecca Seguin-Fowler, whose work focuses on community-engaged research to promote health and reduce chronic disease. The ideal candidate is highly organized, proactive, detail-oriented, and capable of managing multiple priorities in a fast-paced academic and research environment while exercising professionalism, discretion, and independent judgment.

Texas A&M Agri Life is an organization that supports healthy living for all Texans, through the research of tailored agricultural practices that yield nutritious food sources, outreach programs that train community members on growing their own food, and preservation of natural resources via eco-friendly means, all while following practices that lead to a stronger Texas economy. Overseen by the Office of the Vice Chancellor and Dean for the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Texas A&M Agri Life includes the Texas A&M Agri Life Extension Service, Texas A&M Agri Life Research, the College of Agriculture & Life Sciences at Texas A&M University, Texas A&M Forest Service, and Texas A&M Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory.

The Texas A&M Agri Life Institute for Advancing Health Through Agriculture (IHA) is the world's first academic institute to bring together precision nutrition, responsive agriculture, and social and behavioral healthy living research to reduce diet-related chronic disease in a way that considers environmental and economic factors. The IHA unites experts from various fields such as agriculture, nutrition, behavioral sciences, exercise physiology, health communications, public health, social sciences, life sciences, engineering, data and computation science, and economics.

Healthy Living implements, evaluates, and disseminates scientific solutions, applicable to all Texans, for improved public health. The Healthy Living team works on a broad portfolio of extramurally funded, community-engaged research and active collaborations with community partners, cooperative extension, and many academic and nonprofit organizations throughout Texas and beyond. We aim to understand the means of building communities around healthy living and about facilitating the delivery of current, accurate, evidence-based programs, guidelines, and information that supports healthier living for Texans.

Areas of particular interest to Healthy Living include health promotion, food access, food systems, food and nutrition insecurity, dietary patterns and behaviors, diet/food interventions, program development and evaluation, physical activity behaviors and intervention development, policy system and environmental change, citizen science and community-engaged research, and mHealth technologies and interventions.

The IHA's Healthy Living program is housed at the Texas A&M Agri Life Center at Dallas, which focuses on scientific research, public outreach, and education programs. The Center is a regional hub for Texas A&M Agri Life activity. It is one of 13 Agri Life Centers across the state - each focusing on issues specific to their region. Broad focus areas at the Dallas Center include healthy living, urban agriculture and forestry, and water and land.

Position Information

This Postdoctoral Research Associate position will play an active role in research, including working on data, presentations, publications, project/program conceptualization and development, grant proposal development, and other related activities. This position will focus on community-based intervention studies and/or longitudinal cohort studies, with particular attention to health equity and health disparities.

Responsibilities:

Primary responsibilities will include playing an active role in research, including working on data, presentations, publications, project/program conceptualization and development, grant proposal development, and other related activities. The successful candidate will have the opportunity to work on various projects, including active National Institutes of Health studies. Expectations also include but are not limited to leading and collaborating on manuscript preparation from relevant studies (e.g., data analysis, writing, and submission), contributing to conference presentations and reports, and developing and writing grant proposals to funding agencies.

Performs other duties as assigned.

Required Qualifications:

• Ph.D. in related field (e.g., nutrition, public health, epidemiology). Candidates with ABD or all requirements met but diploma pending may be considered.
• Appropriate research background, as demonstrated by direct experience with data analysis (qualitative and/or quantitative; both preferred), publications in peer-reviewed journals, proposal development…