The Center for Studies in Higher Education (CSHE) at the Goldman School of Public Policy produces multi-disciplinary scholarly perspectives on strategic issues in higher education. Established in 1956, it was the first research institute in the United States devoted to the study of higher education. CSHE conducts policy relevant research, promotes the development of a community of scholars and policymakers engaged in policy-oriented discussion, produces and supports multi-disciplinary scholarly perspectives on strategic issues in higher education, and serves as a resource on some of the most pressing higher education issues.
 
The California Policy Lab (CPL) generates research insights for government impact. Through hands-on partnerships with government agencies, CPL performs rigorous research across issue silos and builds the data infrastructure necessary to improve programs and policies that millions of Californians rely on every day. We work on California’s most urgent issues, including homelessness, poverty, criminal justice reform, and education inequality. CPL recognizes the value of having a diverse staff at all levels of the organization. CPL-Berkeley is a center within the Institute for Research on Labor and Employment (IRLE).
 
While this appointment will be at CSHE, the Specialist will be a member of both the CSHE and CPL teams.
 
This is an open-rank role for a skilled, mid-career specialist who wants to design and conduct policy-relevant research in partnership with state and local agencies throughout California.
 
We are launching a new project, the California College Data and Policy Project (CCDPP), as a collaboration between CPL and CSHE that will bring together University of California and government partners to advance equity and improve California’s world class higher education system. Building on existing work at both centers that uses administrative data to study higher education in California, CCDPP will generate new insights and research on what works to better support California students and their families as they transition through the education system. A key asset will be CPL's unique data linkage that brings together data from California’s three public higher education segments, as well as data from the California Department of Education, the California Student Aid Commission, the California Department of Social Services, and the UC Consumer Credit Panel. CPL has previously used these data to study college student use of CalFresh nutrition benefits and the effect of clearer information about college costs and scholarships, among other topics. The Specialist will have the opportunity to extend work on these topics and initiate new projects, both independently and collaboratively. The specialist may also collaborate with project teams working at the intersection of education and other CPL policy areas, including social safety net, health, homelessness, employment, or criminal justice.
 
For more information about the position, including required qualifications see: https://aprecruit.berkeley.edu/JPF04896

Research Scientist

The Research Scientist will be part of a growing team at the USC EdPolicy Hub at the USC Rossier School of Education. The “Hub” collaborates with Southern California schools, education systems, and community colleges to co-design and conduct relevant research. Results will help partners navigate challenges and improve outcomes and equity for students across the region through research and evidence.

We are seeking an experienced Research Scientist to lead the quantitative analysis portion of Hub projects. This hire will also support the development of new research projects with our school and district partners to improve education outcomes for all students in Southern California. 

Principal duties and responsibilities:
The Research Scientist will typically work across several projects with faculty and other senior researchers at USC and (sometimes) other institutions.  Specific responsibilities include:

• Provides expert guidance and support on advanced methodological issues that arise across Hub projects;
• Manages other, more junior, research data analysts in the assembly and analysis of large data sets;
• Systematizes procedures and workflows to ensure the quality and accuracy of less experienced research data analysts’ work;
• Provides scientific guidance and mentorship to support the development and professional growth of HUB research data analysts;
• Develops, maintains, and oversees processes and infrastructure for receiving, storing, and handling sensitive data;
• Analyzes primary and secondary administrative data; develops compelling visualizations and summaries of findings to share with the Principal Investigator and other staff on the project;
• Designs standards and protocols for HUB quantitative researchers that are consistent with core principles of scientific rigor, transparency, and reproducibility;
• Develops and makes presentations to education leaders and policymakers;
• Presents results from Hub projects at academic and practitioner conferences;
• Authors complete or substantial portions of Hub reports and papers;
• Works with Hub Executive Director to identify and pursue new grant opportunities and research projects that further the mission of the Hub

The Research Analyst will be part of a growing team at the USC EdPolicy Hub at the USC Rossier School of Education. The “Hub” collaborates with Southern California schools, education systems, and community colleges to co-design and conduct relevant research. Results will help partners navigate challenges and improve outcomes and equity for students across the region through research and evidence.

We are seeking a detail-oriented Research Analyst to work with across multiple school districts and research projects to clean, analyze, and report on administrative data for Hub research projects. 

Principal duties and responsibilities:
The Research Analyst will typically work across several projects and/or research partners in close collaboration with faculty and senior researchers at USC and (sometimes) other institutions.  Specific responsibilities include:

• Cleaning and performing quality checks on administrative and research data provided by research partners
• Automating repeated, routine procedures, such as file intake, conversion, inspection, and summarization with extensible scripts that can be deployed across different projects
• Designing and maintaining pipelines to automate reports from output generated by a statistical program, such as R or Stata
• Managing and analyzing large administrative datasets, including time-series and panel data spanning multiple school years, schools, and districts
• Understanding and executing sophisticated analyses on large data sets as guided by senior researchers on relevant projects
• Developing and managing quantitative workflows that are transparent, logically organized, and clearly documented to facilitate sharing and reproducibility
• Participating and contributing to team meetings on assigned projects
• Authoring sections of Hub produced research reports and academic paper
• Presenting results from Hub projects to research partners in the field and at academic and practitioner conferences