Research Assistant - Neuroimaging and Behavioral Data

Job Description

Job Description

Pay rate : $16 - $20 an hour, depending on experience and qualifications 

Position Summary

The Human Performance Laboratory and CLEAR at RFUMS is seeking a part-time Research Assistant to support Dr. Shawn Flanagan with the analysis, review, quality control, and organization of neuroimaging and behavioral data collected in recent studies. This position emphasizes neuroscience, quantitative data analysis, reproducible coding, and careful stewardship of research data. The Research Assistant will help convert existing datasets and documentation into organized, quality-reviewed, analysis-ready resources; execute approved analyses; and prepare clear outputs for PI review and research dissemination. This is a temporary, part time position, 8-10 hours a week.

While this position is not eligible for our regular employee benefits, all RFU employees are eligible to accrue personal leave in accordance with IL law. All RFU employees are also eligible to make unmatched contributions to voluntary supplemental pre-tax and post-tax retirement plans.

Who We Are

Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science (RFUMS), located in North Chicago, Illinois, is a graduate health sciences university comprising six schools and colleges. The Center for Lower Extremity Ambulatory Research (CLEAR), housed within the Dr. William M. Scholl College of Podiatric Medicine, uses multidisciplinary approaches to improve lower-extremity health and function. CLEAR's Human Performance Laboratory supports federally funded research in biomechanics, injury prevention, human performance, neuroscience, and physiology.

Recent Human Performance Laboratory studies have generated neuroimaging and behavioral datasets that require careful organization, documented quality control, reproducible preprocessing and analysis, and integration with study metadata. This role is focused on those existing data resources rather than participant-facing or laboratory-planning duties.

Essential Duties & Responsibilities

• Inventory, organize, and review neuroimaging and behavioral datasets and their linked metadata; maintain consistent file structures, data dictionaries, codebooks, data provenance, processing-status records, and analysis-ready datasets.
• Verify participant and session matching, file completeness, variable definitions, plausible ranges, missingness, exclusions, and modality- or task-specific quality indicators; document and escalate unresolved discrepancies.
• Perform and document data cleaning, preprocessing, quality control, and quantitative analysis under PI-approved plans.
• Develop, review, test, and maintain reproducible coding workflows for data cleaning, harmonization, analysis, and visualization.
• Document software versions, parameters, inputs, outputs, data dimensions, and validation checks so results can be independently reproduced.
• Maintain versioned analysis scripts, change records, data dictionaries, processing notes, and decision logs; preserve raw data and provenance throughout the workflow.
• Prepare quality-control summaries, descriptive results, figures, tables, and organized materials for PI review.
• Support relevant literature review, interpretation, manuscript development, presentations, and archiving of final analysis products.

Conditions of Employment

• Must achieve satisfactory results from a background check
• Must complete required human-subjects protection, privacy, data-security, and computing-system training before accessing restricted research data.
• Must be able to maintain a reliable part-time schedule and comply with approved data access, storage, backup, and sharing procedures.

Required Education & Experience

• Relevant education, coursework, training, or experience in neuroscience, neuroimaging, psychology, biomedical engineering, kinesiology, data science, or a related quantitative field.
• Demonstrated experience with scientific coding and quantitative data analysis.

Required Knowledge, Skills, & Abilities

• Ability to write, review, test, and document analysis code in at least one scientific programming language.
• Understanding of reproducible data-analysis practices, including preservation of raw data, provenance, parameter tracking, and validation checks.
• Strong attention to detail when reviewing complex file structures, participant and session identifiers, metadata, missingness, exclusions, and quality indicators.
• Ability to interpret quantitative outputs, identify implausible or inconsistent results, and communicate questions clearly to the PI.
• Ability to protect confidential information and work reliably both independently and as part of a research team.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with neuroimaging data structures, preprocessing workflows, quality control, or analysis software.
• Experience with behavioral or cognitive-task data, statistical modeling, and scientific visualization.
• Proficiency with Python, R, MATLAB, or comparable scientific programming tools.
• Experience with version control, command-line tools, reproducible environments, or high-performance computing is desirable.
• Experience preparing analysis-ready datasets, data dictionaries, technical reports, figures, or tables for manuscripts and presentations.

Typical Physical Demands & Working Conditions

• The selected candidate must be able to perform essential functions with or without reasonable accommodations.

• The position primarily involves computer-based work and may require sustained attention to detailed visual and quantitative information.

EOE, Including Disability / Vets