job descriptions for postdoc and RA Cambidge Health

							                    Postdoctoral Research Fellows and Research Assistants

                    in Human Factors in Surgical Simulation and Training

                            Cambridge Health Alliance Hospitals

                                   Department of Surgery

                                       Cambridge, MA

We are seeking several highly qualified postdoctoral research associates (2) and research
assistants (3) to perform research in surgical simulation and training. This
multidisciplinary research is funded by 3 NIH R01 grants and is multi-institutional,
involving engineers and physicians from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Wright State
University, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Massachusetts General Hospital, Brigham
& Women’s Hospital, Tufts Medical Center, and the Cambridge Health Alliance Hospitals.
Successful candidates will hold one-year appointments, renewable for four years.

Job Title: Postdoctoral Research Associate or Research Assistant

Qualifications:

1. Earned Ph.D. degree in human factors engineering, experimental psychology, biomedical
engineering, computer science, or equivalent, with an interest in medical devices and
systems design, virtual reality simulation, haptics, and/or human performance evaluation
and training.

2. Ability to work independently as well as collaboratively on research projects.

3. Excellent communication skills, both verbal and written.

4. Experience in conducting research with human and animal subjects, using both
quantitative and qualitative methodologies, and the IRB and IACUC process.

5. Ability to prioritise tasks, manage team members, and disseminate results in a timely
manner.

6. Experience with virtual or augmented reality, haptic devices, HCI and UI design,
programming in C, C++, OpenGL, and statistical data analysis packages such as SAS, SPSS, or
R.

Responsibilities:

1. Conduct literature reviews.

2. Conduct field studies and controlled laboratory experiments in the hospital operating
room, animal labs, and simulation labs.

3. Perform task analysis, cognitive task analysis, work domain analysis, etc of the surgical
environment and of emerging surgical techniques.
4. Manage project activities and team members.

5. Assist in writing grant proposals and developing research ideas.

6. Develop and design data acquisition apparatus and measurement protocols.

7. Co-author conference papers and peer-reviewed journal papers.



Job Title: Research Assistant

Qualifications:

1. Earned Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in human factors engineering, experimental
psychology, biomedical engineering, computer science, or equivalent, with an interest in
medical devices and systems design, virtual reality simulation, haptics, and/or human
performance evaluation and training.

2. Ability to work independently as well as collaboratively on research projects.

3. Excellent communication skills, both verbal and written.

4. Experience in conducting research with human and animal subjects, using both
quantitative and qualitative methodologies.

5. Experience with virtual or augmented reality, haptic devices, HCI and UI design,
programming in C, C++, OpenGL, and statistical data analysis packages such as SAS, SPSS, or
R.

Responsibilities:

1. Conduct literature reviews.

2. Conduct field studies and controlled laboratory experiments in the hospital operating
room, animal labs, and simulation labs.

3. Perform task analysis, cognitive task analysis, work domain analysis, etc of the surgical
environment and of emerging surgical techniques.

4. Develop and design data acquisition apparatus and measurement protocols.

5. Co-author conference papers and peer-reviewed journal papers.

Qualified and interested candidates are invited to send a copy of their CV, along with the
name and contact information of three references, to Dr. Steven Schwaitzberg, Chief of
Surgery, Cambridge Health Alliance Hospitals at sschwaitzberg@challiance.org with the
subject line “NIH Postdoc application” or “NIH Research Assistant application. Review of
applications will begin immediately until the positions are filled.