Description
Position title: CDS-RCD Research Assistant (RA)
The Center for Data Science (CDS) in partnership with Research Computing and Data (RCD) at UMass Amherst is looking for up to three PhD student research assistants (RAs) for 10 - 20 hours per week during Spring 2024. RAs will support a broad range of researchers using the Unity HPC platform. As a facilitation RA, you have the opportunity to learn about high performance computing, computational science, and research computing facilitation under the guidance of experienced research computing facilitators. Your tasks include assisting users of the Unity cluster with cluster usage, including account creation, access, workflow execution, and software management. You have the opportunity to contribute to the user education experience, including contributing to user documentation and assisting with or conducting workshops. This position is open to all PhD students with a research computing aspect, including students in CICS, CNS, COE, and CSBS, or anyone with a Linux or Unix background. This position has flexible scheduling.
Responsibilities
- Answer support questions via the ticketing system, email, Unity office hours, and the Unity User Community Slack
- Meet with users via video conferencing to provide support when necessary
- Attend weekly facilitation meetings
- Assist with user education initiatives
- Assist with writing and optimizing code used for research
- Assist with designing efficient research code infrastructure and data pipelines
Required Knowledge & Skills
- Pursuing a PhD at UMass Amherst in a field with a significant research computing component.
- Basic understanding of the Linux operating system and command line.
- Proficiency in at least one high-level programming language (e.g., Python, R, C, C++, Julia, Matlab).
- Ability to follow through and meet deadlines.
- Strong interpersonal and communication skills, including in verbal and written technical conversations.
- Ability to work well with the team and provide exemplary customer service.
Preferred Knowledge & Skills
- Skills in high performance computing, research computing, or computational science.
- Expertise in a computational field or method, including (but not limited to) numerical methods, machine learning, or parallel computing.
- Experience with customer service or user support.
- Experience with literate computing tools, such as Jupyter Notebooks or RStudio
- Informal or formal teaching experience, including peer tutoring or teaching assistantship
- Proficiency with version control, preferably git, and version control platforms like GitHub or GitLab
Benefits and duration
This position is benefited in accordance with the Graduate Employee Organization (GEO) bargaining unit. The appointment is from January 14, 2024 through May 25, 2024, with the possibility for rehire in future semesters, for up to 20 contracted hours per week.
Applications
To apply, upload a PDF cover letter and a resume / CV and complete the form questions here. Application review will begin immediately and continue until the positions are filled. For inquiries regarding this advertisement, please contact Georgia Stuart at gstuart@umass.edu. The anticipated start date for this position is January 14, 2024.
UMass Amherst is committed to a policy of equal opportunity without regard to race, color, religion, caste, creed, sex, age, marital status, national origin, disability, political belief or affiliation, pregnancy and pregnancy-related condition(s), veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, genetic information, natural and protective hairstyle and any other class of individuals protected from discrimination in employment, admission to and participation in academic programs, activities, and services, and the selection of vendors who provide services or products to the University. To fulfill that policy, UMass Amherst is further committed to a program of affirmative action to eliminate or mitigate artificial barriers and to increase opportunities for the recruitment and advancement of qualified minorities, women, persons with disabilities, and covered veterans. It is the policy of UMass Amherst to comply with the applicable federal and state statutes, rules, and regulations concerning equal opportunity and affirmative action.