The Duke Master in Interdisciplinary Data Science (MIDS) program within the Social Science Research Institute (SSRI) is looking to hire a Professor of the Practice or Research Professor (open rank) as a Master in Interdisciplinary Data Science (MIDS) Capstone Project Director. Depending on the candidate’s experience, this may be at the assistant or associate level, with a commensurate salary.
This faculty position is hosted by the Social Science Research Institute (SSRI) in collaboration with the Rhodes Information Initiative at Duke (iiD). Faculty on the Practice and Research tracks at Duke are regular rank faculty members with term renewable appointments, where the expectation is for repeated reappointments for faculty who demonstrate excellence in education and scholarship. The position includes educational responsibilities, direct project mentorship, client and project recruitment, and facilitating legal agreements for the flagship capstone projects for the MIDS Program. Capstone projects are team-based, collaborative projects involving 3-4 Master’s students, a project mentor, and a client. The Master’s students will work in close collaboration with guidance from their mentor while helping fulfill the needs of their client; project mentors are typically faculty members in MIDS or the Department of Statistical Sciences and serve as a primary point of contact for organizing research, resources, and team dynamics; clients are typically external organizations, such as companies or non-profits with an identified need.
The Capstone Director will help coordinate and manage all of the Capstone projects and the related classroom components for master's and several doctoral graduate students. The term of this appointment is January 1st, 2025 (or later hire date) through June 30th, 2028, with an opportunity for renewal.
The overall expectation is a two-semester capstone teaching load and program administration, with the balance of effort open to discussion based on the candidate, to include teaching in the MIDS program and/or research. The candidate will also be expected to join and contribute to weekly MIDS faculty meetings and annual retreats, as well as to serve on ad hoc committees as needed.
Principal Responsibilities: The Capstone Director is expected to organize project-based graduate education with the MIDS program. This involves tasks related to Capstone program administration, course instruction, project recruitment, legal agreements, and mentorship:
• MIDS Capstone administration includes composing project teams and assigning mentors, supporting project teams during the year, coordinating with the Statistics Master’s program, organizing a year-end public symposium for the students’ non-thesis master’s defense, and working with Duke counsel to facilitate legal agreements.
• MIDS Capstone instruction includes teaching a class to facilitate the Capstone projects’ progress, which includes providing feedback in helping the students articulate scientific goals, breaking those goals into smaller tasks, and then interpreting those results.
• MIDS Capstone project and client recruitment includes actively seeking external partners and program-appropriate projects via networking and advertising and connecting with partners across a wide range of organizations (e.g., industry, government, academic) and data science application areas (e.g., health, finance, climate, tech).
• MIDS Capstone client legal agreements include working with partners and Duke counsel in negotiating legal agreements.
• MIDS Capstone mentorship includes directly mentoring two or three project teams a year. The Capstone Director will recruit and assign mentors to other teams, as well.