Junior Specialist- Hastings Lab

Position overview

Salary range :

A reasonable estimate for this position is $55,000 at Step 1

Application Window

Open date : September 24, 2025

Next review date : Friday, Oct 10, 2025 at 11 : 59pm (Pacific Time)

Apply by this date to ensure full consideration by the committee.

Final date : Wednesday, Dec 31, 2025 at 11 : 59pm (Pacific Time)

Applications will continue to be accepted until this date, but those received after the review date will only be considered if the position has not yet been filled.

Position description

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 :

Research 50%

• Develop and / or coordinate procedures for international collaborative processing of data; facilitate activities of colleagues in remote locations.
• Participate in weekly discussions of relevant literature, and conduct literature reviews relevant to the work being conducted
• Attend live or remote conferences to present the results of the research.
• Conduct independent and / or collaborative data analysis.
• Contribute to the writing and preparation of manuscripts for publication.
• Train students and staff in Davis, Bangladesh and / or New York on physiological and / or neuroimaging data collection procedures with participants (i.e., children, adolescents, pregnant women).
• Train team members live and remotely on processing and preparation of physiological data.
• Processing of physiological data to provide feedback to data collection team in Bangladesh about quality of data and improving procedure administration.

Professional Competence 30%

University and Public Service 20%

Qualifications

Basic qualifications

(required at time of application)

Preferred qualifications

(other preferred, but not required, qualifications for the position)

Application Requirements

Document requirements

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 .

Reference requirements

Apply link :

https : / / recruit.ucdavis.edu / JPF07331

Help contact : ycpersonnel@ucdavis.edu

About UC Davis

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.

To implement this process, UC Davis requires all applicants for any open search to complete, sign, and upload the form entitled, "Authorization to Release Information" into UC RECRUIT as part of their application. If an applicant does not include the signed authorization with the application materials, the application will be considered incomplete, and as with any incomplete application, will not receive further consideration.

UC Davis is a smoke and tobacco-free campus (http : / / breathefree.ucdavis.edu / ).

The University of California is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, age, protected veteran status, or other protected status under state for federal law.

Under Federal law, the University of California may employ only individuals who are legally able to work in the United States as established by providing documents as specified in the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986. Certain UC Davis positions funded by federal contracts or sub-contracts require the selected candidate to pass an E-Verify check. More information is available at : http : / / www.uscis.gov / e-verify

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Job location

Davis, CA