What are the responsibilities and job description for the Data Scientist, Penn Development Research Initiative (PDRI) position at University of Pennsylvania?
University Overview
The University of Pennsylvania, the largest private employer in Philadelphia, is a world-renowned leader in education, research, and innovation. This historic, Ivy League school consistently ranks among the top 10 universities in the annual U.S. News & World Report survey. Penn has 12 highly-regarded schools that provide opportunities for undergraduate, graduate and continuing education, all influenced by Penn's distinctive interdisciplinary approach to scholarship and learning. As an employer Penn has been ranked nationally on many occasions with the most recent award from Forbes who named Penn one of America's Best Employers By State in 2021.
Penn offers a unique working environment within the city of Philadelphia. The University is situated on a beautiful urban campus, with easy access to a range of educational, cultural, and recreational activities. With its historical significance and landmarks, lively cultural offerings, and wide variety of atmospheres, Philadelphia is the perfect place to call home for work and play.
The University offers a competitive benefits package that includes excellent healthcare and tuition benefits for employees and their families, generous retirement benefits, a wide variety of professional development opportunities, supportive work and family benefits, a wealth of health and wellness programs and resources, and much more.
COVID-19 vaccination is a requirement for all positions at the University of Pennsylvania. New hires are expected to be fully vaccinated before beginning work at the University. For more information about Penn's vaccine requirements and the use of Penn Open Pass, visit the Penn COVID-19 Response website for the latest information.
Posted Job Title
Data Scientist, Penn Development Research Initiative (PDRI)
Job Profile Title
Data Analyst C
Job Description Summary
The Data Scientist will support the Penn Development Research Initiative (PDRI) with data science applications for heavily data-driven projects. The Data Scientist will report directly to the PDRI academic directors.
Job Description
The Penn Development Research Initiative (PDRI) brings together faculty and graduate students from seven schools across campus who have interests in international development, writ large. PDRI seeks to foster inter-disciplinary research by harnessing the extensive experience of its affiliates in both basic social science and program evaluation, drawing upon diverse disciplinary perspectives. PDRI serves as a launchpad for pursuing extramurally-funded research that includes, but is not limited to, collaborations with international NGOs, local NGOs, and government agencies while serving as an intellectual community for Penn faculty and graduate students conducting research in developing country settings.
DUTIES:
The Data Scientist will work on data-driven PDRI projects through the application of advanced data science skills. The Data Scientist will be responsible for several distinct data-intensive tasks. For one, this includes collecting data using a variety of data extraction tools (e.g., web-scraping, API usage, data mining). It also includes data management (e.g., data cleaning and manipulation, including merging, transforming, and labeling data, training and predicting data). The Data Scientist will also be responsible for data visualization (creating figures, tables, maps and infographics for academic papers, policy briefs, as well as PDRI's newsletters and website) and data analysis tasks (including geo-spatial analysis and statistical analysis), and report directly to the PDRI academic directors. The Data Scientist will also help to program surveys into survey software such as Qualtrics and Survey-to-Go.
QUALIFICATIONS:
Required qualifications :
Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science, Statistics or related field with 2 years of experience, or equivalent combination of education and experience
Excellent data science and analytical skills, including advanced training and experience in statistical inference
Experience working with large datasets
Strong writing skills
Evidence of ability to take the initiative in solving practical research problems, ability to work independently, and to adjust to rapidly changing needs of researchers
The ideal candidate has strong coding fundamentals and wants to pursue a PhD in the social sciences
Preferred qualifications:
High level of proficiency working in the R environment (Python and/or Stata proficiency is not necessary, but a plus)
Ample experience with data management tasks such as merging, transformation, and visualization
Experience with GIS data (skills in spatial econometrics are a plus)
Experience with automated scraping of data from websites
Experience with impact evaluation projects involving randomized controlled trials (need not be in an academic setting)
Experience with advanced computational social sciences tools such as machine learning, text-as-data, and natural language processing
Knowledge of and experience with probability and statistics, research design, and causal inference
This is a two year term appointment with the possibility of renewal.
Working Conditions
Office, Library, Computer Room
Physical Effort
Typically sitting at desk or table
Job Location - City, State
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Department / School
School of Arts and Sciences
Pay Range
$50,684.00 - $109,155.33
Affirmative Action Statement
Penn adheres to a policy that prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, creed, national or ethnic origin, citizenship status, age, disability, veteran status, or any other legally protected class.
Special Requirements
Background check required after a conditional job offer is made. Consideration of the background check will be tailored to the requirements of the job.
University Benefits
Health, Life, and Flexible Spending Accounts : Penn offers comprehensive medical, prescription, behavioral health, dental, vision, and life insurance benefits to protect you and your family's health and welfare. You can also use flexible spending accounts to pay for eligible health care and dependent care expenses with pre-tax dollars.
Tuition : Take advantage of Penn's exceptional tuition benefits. You, your spouse, and your dependent children can get tuition assistance here at Penn. Your dependent children are also eligible for tuition assistance at other institutions.
Retirement: Penn offers generous retirement plans to help you save for your future. Penn's Basic, Matching, and Supplemental retirement plans allow you to save for retirement on a pre-tax or Roth basis. Choose from a wide variety of investment options through TIAA and Vanguard.
Time Away from Work: Penn provides you with a substantial amount of time away from work during the course of the year. This allows you to relax, take vacations, attend to personal affairs, recover from illness or injury, spend time with family-whatever your personal needs may be.
Long-Term Care Insurance: In partnership with Genworth Financial, Penn offers faculty and staff (and your eligible family members) long-term care insurance to help you cover some of the costs of long-term care services received at home, in the community or in a nursing facility. If you apply when you're newly hired, you won't have to provide proof of good health or be subject to underwriting requirements. Eligible family members must always provide proof of good health and are subject to underwriting.
Wellness and Work-life Resources : Penn is committed to supporting our faculty and staff as they balance the competing demands of work and personal life. That's why we offer a wide variety of programs and resources to help you care for your health, your family, and your work-life balance.
Professional and Personal Development: Penn provides an array of resources to help you advance yourself personally and professionally.
University Resources: As a member of the Penn community, you have access to a wide range of University resources as well as cultural and recreational activities. Take advantage of the University's libraries and athletic facilities, or visit our arboretum and art galleries. There's always something going on at Penn, whether it's a new exhibit at the Penn Museum, the latest music or theater presentation at the Annenberg Center, or the Penn Relays at Franklin Field to name just a few examples. As a member of the Penn community, you're right in the middle of the excitement-and you and your family can enjoy many of these activities for free.
Discounts and Special Services : From arts and entertainment to transportation and mortgages, you'll find great deals for University faculty and staff. Not only do Penn arts and cultural centers and museums offer free and discounted admission and memberships to faculty and staff. You can also enjoy substantial savings on other goods and services such as new cars from Ford and General Motors, cellular phone service plans, movie tickets, and admission to theme parks.
Flexible Work Hours: Flexible work options offer creative approaches for completing work while promoting balance between work and personal commitments. These approaches involve use of non-traditional work hours, locations, and/or job structures.
Penn Home Ownership Services: Penn offers a forgivable loan for eligible employees interested in buying a home or currently residing in West Philadelphia, which can be used for closing costs or home improvements.
Adoption Assistance: Penn will reimburse eligible employees on qualified expenses in connection with the legal adoption of an eligible child, such as travel or court fees, for up to two adoptions in your household.
To learn more, please visit: https://www.hr.upenn.edu/PennHR/benefits-pay
The University of Pennsylvania, the largest private employer in Philadelphia, is a world-renowned leader in education, research, and innovation. This historic, Ivy League school consistently ranks among the top 10 universities in the annual U.S. News & World Report survey. Penn has 12 highly-regarded schools that provide opportunities for undergraduate, graduate and continuing education, all influenced by Penn's distinctive interdisciplinary approach to scholarship and learning. As an employer Penn has been ranked nationally on many occasions with the most recent award from Forbes who named Penn one of America's Best Employers By State in 2021.
Penn offers a unique working environment within the city of Philadelphia. The University is situated on a beautiful urban campus, with easy access to a range of educational, cultural, and recreational activities. With its historical significance and landmarks, lively cultural offerings, and wide variety of atmospheres, Philadelphia is the perfect place to call home for work and play.
The University offers a competitive benefits package that includes excellent healthcare and tuition benefits for employees and their families, generous retirement benefits, a wide variety of professional development opportunities, supportive work and family benefits, a wealth of health and wellness programs and resources, and much more.
COVID-19 vaccination is a requirement for all positions at the University of Pennsylvania. New hires are expected to be fully vaccinated before beginning work at the University. For more information about Penn's vaccine requirements and the use of Penn Open Pass, visit the Penn COVID-19 Response website for the latest information.
Posted Job Title
Data Scientist, Penn Development Research Initiative (PDRI)
Job Profile Title
Data Analyst C
Job Description Summary
The Data Scientist will support the Penn Development Research Initiative (PDRI) with data science applications for heavily data-driven projects. The Data Scientist will report directly to the PDRI academic directors.
Job Description
The Penn Development Research Initiative (PDRI) brings together faculty and graduate students from seven schools across campus who have interests in international development, writ large. PDRI seeks to foster inter-disciplinary research by harnessing the extensive experience of its affiliates in both basic social science and program evaluation, drawing upon diverse disciplinary perspectives. PDRI serves as a launchpad for pursuing extramurally-funded research that includes, but is not limited to, collaborations with international NGOs, local NGOs, and government agencies while serving as an intellectual community for Penn faculty and graduate students conducting research in developing country settings.
DUTIES:
The Data Scientist will work on data-driven PDRI projects through the application of advanced data science skills. The Data Scientist will be responsible for several distinct data-intensive tasks. For one, this includes collecting data using a variety of data extraction tools (e.g., web-scraping, API usage, data mining). It also includes data management (e.g., data cleaning and manipulation, including merging, transforming, and labeling data, training and predicting data). The Data Scientist will also be responsible for data visualization (creating figures, tables, maps and infographics for academic papers, policy briefs, as well as PDRI's newsletters and website) and data analysis tasks (including geo-spatial analysis and statistical analysis), and report directly to the PDRI academic directors. The Data Scientist will also help to program surveys into survey software such as Qualtrics and Survey-to-Go.
QUALIFICATIONS:
Required qualifications :
Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science, Statistics or related field with 2 years of experience, or equivalent combination of education and experience
Excellent data science and analytical skills, including advanced training and experience in statistical inference
Experience working with large datasets
Strong writing skills
Evidence of ability to take the initiative in solving practical research problems, ability to work independently, and to adjust to rapidly changing needs of researchers
The ideal candidate has strong coding fundamentals and wants to pursue a PhD in the social sciences
Preferred qualifications:
High level of proficiency working in the R environment (Python and/or Stata proficiency is not necessary, but a plus)
Ample experience with data management tasks such as merging, transformation, and visualization
Experience with GIS data (skills in spatial econometrics are a plus)
Experience with automated scraping of data from websites
Experience with impact evaluation projects involving randomized controlled trials (need not be in an academic setting)
Experience with advanced computational social sciences tools such as machine learning, text-as-data, and natural language processing
Knowledge of and experience with probability and statistics, research design, and causal inference
This is a two year term appointment with the possibility of renewal.
- For consideration, please submit a resume and the name of three references. Please also include an attachment with a link to a data science project you have completed. This could be a link to a GitHub repository, a class project, or an independent research project. You can upload multiple documents to the "Resume/CV" section.
Working Conditions
Office, Library, Computer Room
Physical Effort
Typically sitting at desk or table
Job Location - City, State
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Department / School
School of Arts and Sciences
Pay Range
$50,684.00 - $109,155.33
Affirmative Action Statement
Penn adheres to a policy that prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, creed, national or ethnic origin, citizenship status, age, disability, veteran status, or any other legally protected class.
Special Requirements
Background check required after a conditional job offer is made. Consideration of the background check will be tailored to the requirements of the job.
University Benefits
Health, Life, and Flexible Spending Accounts : Penn offers comprehensive medical, prescription, behavioral health, dental, vision, and life insurance benefits to protect you and your family's health and welfare. You can also use flexible spending accounts to pay for eligible health care and dependent care expenses with pre-tax dollars.
Tuition : Take advantage of Penn's exceptional tuition benefits. You, your spouse, and your dependent children can get tuition assistance here at Penn. Your dependent children are also eligible for tuition assistance at other institutions.
Retirement: Penn offers generous retirement plans to help you save for your future. Penn's Basic, Matching, and Supplemental retirement plans allow you to save for retirement on a pre-tax or Roth basis. Choose from a wide variety of investment options through TIAA and Vanguard.
Time Away from Work: Penn provides you with a substantial amount of time away from work during the course of the year. This allows you to relax, take vacations, attend to personal affairs, recover from illness or injury, spend time with family-whatever your personal needs may be.
Long-Term Care Insurance: In partnership with Genworth Financial, Penn offers faculty and staff (and your eligible family members) long-term care insurance to help you cover some of the costs of long-term care services received at home, in the community or in a nursing facility. If you apply when you're newly hired, you won't have to provide proof of good health or be subject to underwriting requirements. Eligible family members must always provide proof of good health and are subject to underwriting.
Wellness and Work-life Resources : Penn is committed to supporting our faculty and staff as they balance the competing demands of work and personal life. That's why we offer a wide variety of programs and resources to help you care for your health, your family, and your work-life balance.
Professional and Personal Development: Penn provides an array of resources to help you advance yourself personally and professionally.
University Resources: As a member of the Penn community, you have access to a wide range of University resources as well as cultural and recreational activities. Take advantage of the University's libraries and athletic facilities, or visit our arboretum and art galleries. There's always something going on at Penn, whether it's a new exhibit at the Penn Museum, the latest music or theater presentation at the Annenberg Center, or the Penn Relays at Franklin Field to name just a few examples. As a member of the Penn community, you're right in the middle of the excitement-and you and your family can enjoy many of these activities for free.
Discounts and Special Services : From arts and entertainment to transportation and mortgages, you'll find great deals for University faculty and staff. Not only do Penn arts and cultural centers and museums offer free and discounted admission and memberships to faculty and staff. You can also enjoy substantial savings on other goods and services such as new cars from Ford and General Motors, cellular phone service plans, movie tickets, and admission to theme parks.
Flexible Work Hours: Flexible work options offer creative approaches for completing work while promoting balance between work and personal commitments. These approaches involve use of non-traditional work hours, locations, and/or job structures.
Penn Home Ownership Services: Penn offers a forgivable loan for eligible employees interested in buying a home or currently residing in West Philadelphia, which can be used for closing costs or home improvements.
Adoption Assistance: Penn will reimburse eligible employees on qualified expenses in connection with the legal adoption of an eligible child, such as travel or court fees, for up to two adoptions in your household.
To learn more, please visit: https://www.hr.upenn.edu/PennHR/benefits-pay
Salary : $50,684 - $109,155
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