Research Assistant I or II

Please see Special Instructions for more details.

Additional Special Instructions: For full consideration, please submit:

• A CV or resume
  2-3 references
• A cover letter detailing your research experience, interests, technical expertise, and career goals.

Questions about the position may be directed to Dr. Saul Frankford nkford

Posting Number: S06718P

Position Title: Research Assistant I or II

Dr. Saul Frankford is hiring a full-time Research Assistant I or II for his lab in the School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences at the University of Texas  lab’s research focuses on using behavioral and neural techniques to understand the interplay between sensation and speech production in individuals with neurological speech and voice disorders.

Current projects involve neurotypical adults and adults with Parkinson’s disease, focusing on auditory processing of speech timing and acoustic measures of speech timing from a variety of speaking tasks. Plans include use of structural and functional neuroimaging, altered auditory feedback, and brain stimulation to probe mechanisms of speech motor control. Join our team and be involved in collecting and writing up data from these innovative multimodal studies.

This position will provide technical assistance supporting various research projects and conduct research activities according to research protocol. Research activities may include patient recruiting and screening, traditional laboratory experiments & activities, and/or neuroimaging data collection.

This is an ideal position for someone interested in building more skills before applying for graduate school. You will gain in-depth experience in multidisciplinary research, intensive neuroimaging training, build data skills, publish papers, attend conferences, and make connections with various speech motor control and neuroscience research groups.

The appointment is for one year, with the possibility of renewal contingent upon continued funding and satisfactory performance.

Research Assistant I: Bachelor’s degree in a basic science or equivalent combination of education and experience in a public services environment.

Research Assistant II: Bachelor’s degree; three years related experience; or any equivalent combination of education and experience.

• BA or BS in speech, language, and hearing sciences; psychology; neuroscience; cognitive neuroscience; data science; or a related field.
• Strong applicants from other academic fields may also be considered.
• Prior experience with experimental design, behavioral task programming, neuroanatomy, neuroimaging (MRI), human subject data collection, and/or data analysis.
• Previous work or volunteer experience in a human research setting is highly competitive.
• Experience with clinical populations, neuroimaging or neuromodulation, or computer programming is a plus.
• Technical skills such as Matlab, Python, or R are highly desired but not required.
• Prior team-management experience and/or interest in neurological speech and voice disorders is beneficial.

To the extent this position requires the holder to research, work on, or have access to critical infrastructure as defined in Section 117.001(2) of the Texas Business and Commerce Code, the ability to maintain the security or integrity of the critical infrastructure is a minimum qualification.

Research Assistant I:

• Manage large multimodal datasets.
• Assist with implementation and analyses of cognitive, behavioral and fMRI experiments.
• Coordinate research projects (recruiting, scheduling, running participants).
• Coordinate and train research assistants.
• Preprocess and analyze functional and structural neuroimaging data.
• Assist PI with lab management, including ordering supplies and inventory.
• Maintain protocols and compliance paperwork.
• Participate in lab meetings and departmental events.
• Other duties as assigned.

Research Assistant II:

• All duties of RA I, plus: develop research designs, data collection methods, and strategies for data management.
• Write and edit technical reports and manuscripts for publication or presentation.
• Assis…