Graduate Research Assistant Position (Temporary / Part Time / Hourly)

Overview

Job Description – Research Assistant

Temporary (4 week), part time (10 hours/week), hourly job ($20/hr) for Bloustein graduate student.

Job Summary: Bloustein Ph.D. Candidate Laura Geronimo is hiring a student to support her dissertation research for an NJ Sea Grant funded project titled: Prioritizing Hazard Mitigation Investments for Equitable and Efficient Adaptation of Coastal Residential Communities. This is an exciting opportunity for a graduate student to receive training in mixed methods research in the field of climate justice and coastal adaptation to flood risk. The student will assist Laura in preparing materials for her dissertation, research talks, and potential journal submissions. Laura is also co-chair of the Student and Post-doc Leadership Council (SPLC) for the large Megalopolitan Coastal Transformation Hub (MACH) project led by her advisors, which relates to this research.

Laura has developed a national dataset spanning over 30 years using OpenFEMA data, combined with sociodemographic data from the Census, and flood exposure estimates from First Street Foundation. She has also conducted over 20 interviews with stakeholders at the household, local government, state, and federal levels in New Jersey. Laura is seeking a research assistant with a strong intellectual interest in social equity and climate adaptation, as well as skills in quantitative and qualitative research methods.

Responsibilities: The responsibilities include exploring trends and patterns in regional and national dataset, to understand factors that explain the distribution of federal household-level interventions for flood-related disasters. The research assistant will help Laura prepare, format, and analyze descriptive statistics, multivariate regression tables, maps, and case-specific analysis (e.g., hurricanes, locations).

Requirements and Skills:

• Completed Basic Quantitative Methods, Planning Methods, and Topics in GIS.
• Strong skills in literature review, synthesis, writing, and communication.

Preferred:

• Spatial analysis skills in R and/or Python
• Applied Multivariate Methods

Time Commitment and Compensation: The research assistant is expected to work 10 hours a week for about 4 weeks beginning March 21st – April 14th , 2022. Compensation is $20/hr, for a total of $800. There may be opportunity for extending the term of hire depending on need and student performance. The student will meet with Laura weekly to receive training and discuss tasks.

Application Process: Please submit your resume/CV and a few paragraphs describing your interest in the position and how your experience and skillset make you qualified for this position.

• Submit materials to laura.geronimo@rutgers.edu by March 1st.
• Start date: March 20th (after Spring Break).