Hi,

We are looking to hire two postdoctoral positions, one in computational social science and one in computational linguistics. The ad is below. Please contact me with any questions.



Thanks,

David



David E. Cunningham

Associate Professor

Political Methodology and Formal Theory Field Chair

Director of GVPT Honors Program

Department of Government & Politics

University of Maryland



Postdoctoral Research Associates in Computational Social Science and/or Computational Linguistics



The National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START) is looking for two (2) Postdoctoral Research Associates to work on a National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded project at START’s headquarters at the University of Maryland, College Park.



The project is attempting to triangulate perceptions of institutions and grievances from three sources (traditional surveys/structural factors, online media, and social media) to determine their validity to measure these perceptions in near-real time.  In addition, the project aims to examine whether these perceptions (and their temporal and geospatial dynamics) foreshadow instability and what role internet / media penetration may play in their ability to forecast.  The project team will be experimenting with a wide variety of methods for identifying, extracting, and classifying perceptions in multiple languages, and the Research Associates will play a critical role in the development and execution of the research design.  The Research Associates will have the opportunity to work and co-author research articles and products with an interdisciplinary team of geographers, mathematicians, computer scientists, criminologists, communication scientists, and political scientists.



Specifically, we seek one postdoctoral research associate in each of the following categories:



1. Computational Political Science, with a grounding in both theoretical orientations toward political violence as well as experience with complex data structures, textual analysis, machine learning, or social media analytics.  The successful applicant will combine a substantive familiarity of the research literature on political violence with strong ability to manipulate and analyze quantitative data sets.



2. Computational Linguistics, with experience in the application of sentiment classification or topic modeling towards textual or social media sources; experience with multi-topic clustering in multi-lingual environments preferred.  The successful candidate will be skilled in computer science applications and also have familiarity with statistical modeling of textual or media sources.



Alongside the development of research products and academic articles, these positions will emphasize the development of open source software, reproducibility, and the curation and sharing of data and code.  The positions are for one year (renewable for an additional year pending positive review), starting no later than September 1, 2015 (but starting dates are available earlier).  The Ph.D. must be completed prior to the start date of the position.  Research Associates will be provided with a 12-month salary between $55,000 and $65,000, depending on experience (plus full UMD benefits), as well as relevant computing equipment and software.  While supporting the project, Research Associates will also have the opportunity to spend up to 20 percent of their time (depending on project needs) on their own research and will be encouraged to present their research at professional meetings during their residence.



Application Information:



Interested applicants should submit to [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]> the following information in PDF format:



  *   brief cover letter;

  *   curriculum vitae;

  *   two-page document highlighting current and future research interests, and how a postdoctoral research program would support those aims; and,

  *   analytic / writing sample (published / submitted / conference paper or draft chapter).



Two letters of recommendation from faculty members who are familiar with your work must also be sent under separate cover to the same address, with the subject “Postdoc Recommendation – [insert applicant’s name]”.



Applications are due by February 26th, 2015, and will be evaluated on a rolling basis until the positions are filled. The University of Maryland, College Park, actively subscribes to a policy of equal employment opportunity, and will not discriminate against any employee or applicant because of race, age, gender, color, sexual orientation, physical or mental disability, religion, national origin, or political affiliation. Minorities and women are encouraged to apply.