Senior Research Associate

Job Description

Summary:


The GW Regulatory Studies Center’s mission is to improve regulatory policy through research, education, and outreach. In collaboration with a network of scholars, we provide objective, high-quality yet accessible academic research and programs on regulatory policy, analysis, and process.

Posting Details
I. DEPARTMENT INFORMATION
The GW Regulatory Studies Center’s mission is to improve regulatory policy through research, education, and outreach. In collaboration with a network of scholars, we provide objective, high-quality yet accessible academic research and programs on regulatory policy, analysis, and process.
The Center is a leading source for applied scholarship in regulatory issues, and a training ground for anyone who wants to understand the effects of regulation and ensure that regulatory policies are designed in the public interest.
Established in 2009, the GW RSC is an academic center of the George Washington University, a private, top-tier university located in the Nation’s capital. It is housed within the Trachtenberg School of Public Policy and Public Administration, which is consistently ranked among the nation’s top policy schools, and attracts high-achieving students interested in careers in public policy. In addition, with our location near the White House and Capitol Hill, the GW RSC is a hub for academic institutions around the country, and brings fresh ideas and analysis to policymakers in Washington.
The Senior Research Associate will conduct policy analysis and research using quantitative and qualitative methods from economics, policy, and law. Using a wide degree of creativity and latitude, this experienced researcher will make detailed observations, analyze data, and interpret results, with limited guidance from the Principal Investigator, to whom they will report. The role responsibilities include undertaking a variety of short- and long-term research projects related to regulatory issues.

The Senior Research Associate will be responsible for managing project tasks, coordinating with faculty and grant officers as well as guiding junior staff and graduate students. They will author and co-author policy commentaries, white papers, academic articles, and public interest comments submitted to federal regulatory agencies. This is an ideal opportunity for a self-starter interested in pursuing a career in regulatory analysis, scholarship, or law.

Duties and Responsibilities:

• Independently conducts research, analysis, and writing for projects supported by designated grant funds and unrestricted funding. Responsible for developing research plans, conducting literature reviews, engaging in qualitative and quantitative analysis, identifying case studies, and using federal agency documents and the existing literature to analyze the effects of regulation. Interfaces directly with faculty and other scholars and stakeholders; develops written reports on the results of this analysis and presents results in various forums.
• Analyzes individual regulations, regulatory processes, and regulatory reforms through an economic, policy, and legal lens with a focus on the public interest and effects of regulations on consumers. Performs data collection, data analysis, and literature reviews to identify useful tools for measuring regulatory impacts in various industry sectors. Conducts statistical analyses on patterns or trends in regulation using appropriate statistical programming languages such as R or Python.
  
  Produces reports summarizing research and analyses in an effective and objective manner.
• Examines federal agency docket materials to assess the potential costs and benefits of regulations, and clearly analyzes the tradeoffs, unintended consequences, distributional impact, and economic effect of proposed and final regulations.
• Authors and co-authors written research products, including policy commentaries, journal articles, and public comments.
• Contributes to Reg Stats and other databases and webpages and develops new tools/dashboards for accessing and visualizing rule making data using programming languages such as Python and R. Tracks regulatory agency activity using…