CAREER OPPORTUNITY in SPATIAL STATISTICS
The National Institute of Statistical Sciences (NISS) seeks to appoint a postdoctoral Research Associate for a high-impact project to develop and implement spatial statistical methodology for education data. The appointment will be for one-year with expectation of renewal. The position will remain open until filled and can start anytime.
The postdoctoral fellow/early career researcher will develop, implement and test innovative spatial statistical methodologies for the application of GIS technology to high-profile social, economic and education data collected by the Census Bureau and the US Department of Education. Research will address three related topics:
- Methodology for spatial modeling and estimation with changes of support for survey data
- Uncertainty quantification and computation for combining different sources of uncertainty, e.g., from survey sampling and from spatial dependence models
- Design and analysis of simulations and experiments to validate new methodology and models developed.
The methodology will be applied to high-profile federal datasets, in particular the American Community Survey, and will be used to address a multitude of research questions pertaining to education and education policy.
The NISS Research Associate will be based in Washington, DC. Christopher Wikle (Professor, University of Missouri) will be the NISS Senior Mentor; Nell Sedransk (Director, NISS-DC) will be the on-site supervisor. This collaborating team will interact closely with lead researchers at the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) in the US Department of Education in addition to researchers from the US Census Bureau.
Applicants must have received, or expect to complete, a doctorate in statistics or related discipline within the last 5 years. Selection criteria will include demonstrated research ability in statistics or a relevant scientific discipline, knowledge of spatial and/or spatio-temporal modeling, interest in survey data and official statistics, demonstrated capabilities in statistical computation and analysis of high-dimensional datasets. Experience with GIS analysis and methodology is highly desirable. Commitment to collaborative research is essential in additional to excellent verbal and written communication skills.
The initial salary will depend upon qualifications and relevant previous experience. Recent PhD recipients would qualify for a salary of $85,000 per year.
As a NISS Research Associate, active participation in the professional research community is expected including research leading to publications in top statistical and domain science journals, as well as presentations at professional conferences.
This position will require access to US agency restricted data sets. Therefore the position is open only to US citizens and to any non-citizens who already hold an active clearance from the US Bureau of the Census.