Job Information
Texas A&M University Research Specialist V in United States
Job Title
Research Specialist V
Agency
Texas A&M Agrilife Research
Department
Dallas
Proposed Minimum Salary
Commensurate
Job Location
Dallas, Texas
Job Type
Staff
Job Description
The Texas A&M AgriLife Institute for Advancing Health Through Agriculture (IHA) seeks a Research Specialist V with expertise in the areas of public health nutrition, active living, and the prevention of obesity and chronic disease research. The Research Specialist V will contribute to the goals of the IHA Healthy Living program and projects. Areas of particular interest include health equity, behavioral risk factors, and use of mobile health technologies. Researchers will develop and participate in NIH-funded (as well as other federal, state, and foundation funding) intervention and dissemination/implementation studies.
The Texas A&M AgriLife Institute for Advancing Health Through Agriculture is the world’s first academic institute to bring together precision nutrition, responsive agriculture, and social and behavioral research to reduce diet-related chronic disease and lower health care costs in a way that supports producers and the environment. Composed of three focus areas – Healthy Living, Responsive Agriculture, and Precision Nutrition – the IHA brings together experts across many disciplines, including agriculture; nutrition; behavioral, social and life sciences; engineering; data and computation science; and economics. Healthy Living aims to rapidly apply knowledge from research to the needs of producers and consumers, and conduct dissemination and behavioral implementation research that quickly translates findings from the other two focus areas to the community and producers.
Healthy Living research, led by IHA Associate Director, Dr. Rebecca Seguin-Fowler, focuses on the development, evaluation and dissemination of community-engaged health promotion and chronic disease prevention intervention programs that integrate individual, sociocultural, environmental, and policy/system-level factors.
We aim to understand the means of building communities around healthy living and about facilitating the delivery of current, accurate, evidence-based programs, guidelines, and information that supports healthier living for Texans. A state-of-the-art building for healthy living initiatives is being designed at the Dallas campus and will open in 2022.
Responsibilities
Primary responsibilities will include an active role in evaluating community-based randomized intervention trials that target primary prevention of cardiovascular disease, cancer, and other modifiable risk factors among underserved populations. The successful candidate will contribute to independent research, including project/program conceptualization and development; support externally funded research proposal development to extend current programs; develop additional innovative, relevant programs, including integration of state of the science mobile health technologies into community-based interventions and dissemination research; and compile, analyze, interpret, and review data and metadata. The overarching objective of the Healthy Living work is to promote the health and wellness of all Texans, particularly the most underserved and unreached populations, and to reduce healthcare costs and the burden of chronic disease through the integration of research and extension outreach and engagement. Successful candidates will align their contributions and professional research goals to help achieve this objective.
Additional responsibilities include:
Work in close collaboration with Healthy Living team to design, develop, manage, and evaluate community-engaged health interventions and initiatives, including activities related to data collection, preparing human subjects research protocols for the IRB, and develop research project operational procedures.
Prepare and write proposals to funding agencies; develop and edit written reports, manuscripts, and presentations.
Conduct literature reviews to inform design, implementation, and evaluation of community-engaged interventions as well as dissemination products such as manuscripts and presentations for a variety of audiences.
Lead development and refinement/adaptation of curricula and related chronic disease prevention and health promotion program curricula and related materials.
Reviews, documents, and develops data structures.
Analyzes and interprets data using accepted statistical methods, including mixed models for clustered randomized trials.
Designs the statistical plan, including power and sample size calculations, for funding proposals for a variety of study designs such as randomized controlled trials, community-randomized trials, and longitudinal cohorts.
Acquires, loads, and merges data from various sources to produce reports and data dashboard.
Prepares reports and analysis and results sections of manuscripts, including written descriptions of methods and summarizing results in text, tabular, and graphic form.
Prepares datasets for sharing with other investigators and with the public.
Required Education/Experience
Bachelor’s degree in related field or equivalent combination of education and experience.
Twelve years of related experience.
Preferred Education/Experience
Master’s or Doctorate Degree in related field (e.g., public health, nutrition, statistics, clinical research, and other related education and experience that enables the candidate to achieve job expectations).
Experience developing research-based programs and conducting research in the following areas: underserved populations; minority and urban health; food systems;
community-based health behavior interventions; D&I research; and/or the integration of technology into community outreach and research.
- Experience working with Extension, community partners and/or public health affiliated agencies.
Required Knowledge/Abilities/Skills:
Strong writing, public speaking, and presentation skills.
Ability lead as well as to function as a strong collaborator on a multidisciplinary team
Highly organized.
Professional demeanor.
Ability to multi-task and establish effective working relationships.
Knowledge and understanding of the mission and role of the Land Grant University System.
All positions are security-sensitive. Applicants are subject to a criminal history investigation, and employment is contingent upon the institution’s verification of credentials and/or other information required by the institution’s procedures, including the completion of the criminal history check.
Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action/Veterans/Disability Employer.
As the largest comprehensive agriculture and life sciences program nationally, Texas A&M AgriLife brings together a college and four state agencies within the Texas A&M University System With over 5,000 employees, and a presence in every county across the state, Texas A&M AgriLife is uniquely positioned to improve lives, the environment, and the economy of Texas and the nation through education, research, extension and service.If your goal is the pursuit of excellence and your vision is to make a difference in this world, we invite you to explore our opportunities to discover what a career at Texas A&M AgriLife has to offer you.
Texas A&M AgriLife is comprised of the following Texas A&M University System members:
Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service (https://agrilife.tamu.edu/agency/extension-home/)
Texas A&M AgriLife Research
College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Texas A&M University (https://agrilife.tamu.edu/agency/college-home/)
Texas A&M Forest Service
Texas A&M Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory (https://agrilife.tamu.edu/agency/tvmdl-home/)
Texas A&M AgriLife collaborates with Prairie View A&M University, Tarleton State University, Texas A&M University-Commerce, Texas A&M University-Kingsville and West Texas A&M University as well as with other public and private partners.
Prospective employee benefits
Retirement programs
Commitment to inclusive excellence (https://agrilife.tamu.edu/about/diversity-inclusion/)
Strategic plan