The Positive Psychology Center at the University of Pennsylvania
seeks a Postdoctoral Research Fellow to begin summer or fall 2013, for
one to four years with potential for employment on future projects. The
fellow will play a central role on a large grant examining Positive
Health among soldiers in the Armed Forces. The project examines the
influence of psychological and physical health assets on physical
health, illness, health care utilization, and health care expenditure.
This is a rare opportunity to be part of a research team developing
cutting-edge technology and researching a new and rapidly growing area
of psychological studies.
The fellow will serve
as a link between the grant's senior scientists and the U.S. Army's
Research Facilitation Team (RFT). The RFT engages in program evaluation,
behavioral science research, and command surveillance funded through
the Office of the Deputy Undersecretary of the Army. The fellow will
develop expert knowledge on the data elements (i.e., origin of measures,
psychometrics, statistical relations) using the Person-Event Data
Environment (PDE), a virtual electronic warehouse of medical,
psychological, health, training, and personnel information, which has
been gathered on over one million Army soldiers. The position involves
extensive database management and statistical analysis, providing
numerous opportunities for collaborative publications with prominent
senior scientists.
The fellow will help the
senior scientists operationalize the strategic goals into actionable
lines of data analysis, refine research questions based on the
constraints of the PDE, harvest the required data, assist in preparing
the data for analysis, and ensure that the database programmers and
investigative team work within established privacy and human subject
protection guidelines followed by the Army Analytics Group (AAG). The
fellow will perform advanced statistical modeling and data analysis
including both variable- and person-centered techniques (latent growth
and growth mixture modeling, discrete time series and survival analyses,
fixed-effect latent variable modeling). The Fellow will also serve as a
technical writer, helping prepare manuscripts for publication in
scientific journals. The fellow will assist the RFT Director in
communicating the team's successes to the broader Army and scientific
community, and keep the RFT Director and senior scientists apprised of
advances made by the team.
The fellow will work
with grant senior scientists including Dr. Martin E.P. Seligman (PI),
Dr. Rhonda Cornum (co-PI), Dr. Laura Kubzansky, Dr. Laurence Steinberg,
Dr. Edward Diener, and Dr. Darwin Labarthe.
Experience mining large-scale medical and behavioral data sets, using
relational database software, and advanced modeling programs (i.e.,
Mplus or EQS) as well as an understanding of the interface between
mental and physical health is required. Strong quantitative training in
both person- and variable-centered techniques is essential. Individuals
with a Ph.D. in psychology, health and human development, medical
epidemiology, developmental psychopathology or a related behavioral
science field are encouraged to apply. Applications will be reviewed on a
rolling basis. The fellow will work in Monterey, CA and travel for
collaboration with senior scientists. Please send CV, statement of
interest (two pages max), 2 reprints/preprints, 2-3 letters of
recommendation, and at least 3 references to: Libby Benson, lbens@psych.upenn.edu. The University of Pennsylvania is an EOE/Affirmative Action Employer
.
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