Postdoctoral Scholar: Curiosity & Character Development, Schooler META Lab, Department of Psych

META Lab at UC Santa Barbara seeks a Postdoctoral Scholar to help lead a three-year, multi-institution initiative on cultivating curiosity as an intellectual virtue in higher education. The project, funded by the Educating Character Initiative at Wake Forest University, integrates an evidence-based, app-delivered curiosity program into classrooms, wellness programming, and campus culture at UCSB and George Mason University (GMU). Building on published pilot work showing that curiosity can be trained and that it catalyzes broader positive development, the project asks how these gains scale, and how curiosity supports belonging and academic success among first-generation, Pell-eligible, and transfer students.

• Coordinate with participating faculty and campus partners (Health & Wellness, CITRAL, GMU's Center for the Advancement of Well-Being)
• Develop shared pedagogical and assessment materials
• Lead assessment design and data collection across student and faculty samples
• Conduct analyses of longitudinal, multi-time point intervention data
• Present findings at conferences and ECI convenings; lead and co-author publications

At the time of application, candidates must have completed all requirements for a PhD (or equivalent) except the dissertation. The PhD should be in psychology, education, cognitive science, or a related field