Junior Specialist- Hastings Lab

Dr. Paul Hastings at the Center for Mind and Brain seek to fill a full-time position at the Junior Specialist level starting November 15, 2025. This position is full-time (100% appointment, 40 hours/week) for one year with the possibility of a second year.

Educational Background: The successful candidate will have completed an undergraduate degree in Psychology, Human Development, Physiology, Nutrition, or a related field, and will have experience collecting and working with human physiological (i.e., electrocardiography, ECG; impedance cardiography, IMP; electrodermal activity, EDA) or neuroimaging data (i.e., magnetic resonance imaging, MRI; diffusion tensor imaging, DTI).

Reporting: The junior specialist will work under the supervision of Dr. Paul Hastings.

Position Description: The junior specialist will work on the study titled “Effects of early-life nutritional supplementation on the brains, bodies, and behaviors of Ghanaian youths in middle adolescence”. Responsibilities will include coordinating data transfer between data collection sites in Ghana and UC Davis; processing autonomic physiological data; training of colleagues, staff and students at UC Davis and University of Ghana in physiological data processing; assisting with implementation of data collection activities involving parents and adolescents in Ghana; collecting and reviewing journal articles in developmental psychophysiology, nutrition and global human development; management of article database in Zotero; engaging in discussions on research and the interpretation of research results; contributing to reports of results as publications in scholarly journals (e.g., Child Development; American Journal of Clinical Nutrition) and/or presentations at conferences (e.g., Society for Research in Child Development; American Society for Nutrition), with potential for authorship credits and/or lead author/presenter roles; and university service in the form of undergraduate student supervision. Responsibilities may include learning to conduct statistical analyses in R, SPSS, SAS and/or MPlus; refining and debugging code in R scripts; pre-processing and analyses of MRI and DTI data; travel to Ghana for working directly with team members and research participants; assisting with preparation of grant proposals in support of additional research; working on other studies and datasets for the purpose of conference presentation or manuscript preparation, contingent on interests and the pace of the primary research responsibilities.

Responsibilities may include:

• A Bachelor's degree in psychology or neuroscience.
• Prior experience working with cardiac physiological data.
• Availability to work flexible job hours.
• Excellent interpersonal skills and strong writing skills.
• Excellent organizational and time management skills.
• Proficiency in typical software used in research (Microsoft Excel & Word, Google Calendar, Google Voicemail).
• Experience with statistical analysis (e.g., using R)

• Previous research experience with Mindware hardware and ACQ, HRV, IMP and EDA software
• Hands-on data collection with human research participants.

• Cover Letter

• Curriculum Vitae - Your most recently updated C.V.

• Authorization to Release Information Form - This form is required for all applicants applying to academic recruitments. Please see the Employment Disclosure Requirements webpage for more information. Download, complete, sign, and upload the form.

• 2-3 letters of reference required

As a condition of employment, the finalist will be required to disclose if they are subject to any final administrative or judicial decisions within the last seven years determining that they committed any misconduct, are currently being investigated for misconduct, left a position during an investigation for alleged misconduct, or have filed an appeal with a previous employer.

• “Misconduct” means any violation of the policies or laws governing conduct at the applicant’s previous place of employment, including, but not limited to, violations of policies or laws prohibiting sexual harassment, sexual assault, or other forms of harassment, discrimination, dishonesty, or unethical conduct, as defined by the employer.
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