Student Research Assistant Opportunity – now accepting applications for Summer/Fall 2024:
The PAW Lab is seeking a highly motivated and detail-oriented student Research Assistant to join our team to work on a study funded National Institutes of Health assessing the role of dogs in supporting adolescent mental health. The research assistant will be responsible for communicating with research participants via email and phone/text as well as monitoring participant data, predominantly on weekends.

While it is not a requirement, experience with data cleaning and analysis using R, and/or prior experience with psychophysiology data is ideal. This role is suited for someone with strong organizational skills, excellent communication abilities, and an understanding of research methods and/or data analysis. This role has the potential to be a long term opportunity to work with our lab on multiple roles within this study and gain valuable experience with different research methods within human-animal interaction.

Interested students should email a cover letter and resume to TuftsPAWLab@tufts.edu.

Key Responsibilities:

• Participant Communication:
  • Schedule and conduct calls with participants.
  • Timely responses to email and text communication with research participants.
  • Address questions or concerns participants may have regarding the study via email and/or text (availability during weekend hours is required).
• Data Quality Assessment: Regularly review study data for consistency and accuracy.
• Data Analysis (optional): Run data analysis using R and collaborate with the research team to support advanced data analysis as needed.

Qualifications:

• Education:
  • Pursuing a degree in Psychology, Child Development, Statistics, Public Health, or a related field at Tufts University. Candidates with a strong interest in research are encouraged to apply.

• Preferred Experience:
  • Previous experience in a research setting and/or in a role involving data management.
  • Previous experience communicating with research participants or adolescents.
  • Familiarity with R for data analysis and cleaning data using the “tidyverse” (ideal, not required)
  • Experience with psychophysiology, EEG, or wearable sensor data (ideal, not required)
• Skills:
  • Ability to respond to participant communications in a timely manner.
  • Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
  • Strong organizational and time-management abilities and attention to detail.

DVM Summer Research Students: For current students in the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University DVM program, Dr. Mueller often mentors students in the Summer Student Research Training Program. For more information, please visit: https://vet.tufts.edu/student-research-training-programs

M.S. in Animals and Public Policy Program
Applications are accepted for the M.S. in Animals and Public Policy program on a yearly basis with two deadlines (February 1 and April 1). For more information, please visit: https://grad.vet.tufts.edu/ms-animals-and-public-policy/

Tufts Initiative for Human-Animal Interaction (TIHAI) Student Scholars Program: If you are a Tufts student, you are eligible to apply for the TIHAI Student Scholars program to support therapy animal events for your campus group. For more information, please visit: https://hai.tufts.edu/student-scholars-program/

Media inquiries: For media inquires related to our lab’s work, please email Megan.Mueller@tufts.edu

Animal-Assisted Interventions: For more information about the Tufts Paws for People therapy animal group, please visit http://hai.tufts.edu/paws

For all other inquiries, please email us at TuftsPAWLab@tufts.edu.