Research Associate

Research Associate

Texas A&M University Health Science Center

Center for Community Health & Aging

Proposed Minimum Salary: Commensurate

Job Location: College Station, Texas

Job Type: Staff

Job Description

Texas A&M University is committed to enriching the learning and working environment by promoting a culture that respects all perspectives, talents & lived experiences. Embracing varying opinions and perspectives strengthens our core values which are: Respect, Excellence, Leadership, Loyalty, Integrity, and Selfless Service.

As one of the fastest-growing academic health centers in the nation, Texas A&M Health encompasses five colleges and numerous centers and institutes working together to improve health through transformative education, innovative research and team-based health care delivery.

The Research Associate supports the TOPS (Texas Opioid Prevention for K-12 Students) evaluation core lead. The Research Associate manages and executes daily evaluation operations of the TOPS project, including collaborating with school implementation and community engagement teams, liaising with external partners involved in the project, ensuring timely completion of evaluation activities, compliance with funding requirements and trains undergraduate and/or graduate students and other laboratory, technical or field staff involved in research.

Salary: Will be commensurate based on the selected hire's education and experience.

Location/Schedule: College Station, TX/Full-Time; This position may require work beyond normal office hours and/or work on weekends.

Please note: This position is grant funded; future employment may be contingent upon future funding.

Responsibilities

Project Research

• Design, plan, and coordinate social science research studies, including program planning and evaluation activities.
• Develop and implement qualitative and mixed-methods research protocols (e.g., interviews, focus groups, surveys), ensuring ethical and rigorous data collection.
• Collaborate with partner organizations, community stakeholders, and research teams to ensure successful implementation of project activities, and ensure findings are relevant and actionable.
• Develop online tools, including surveys tools to collect qualitative and quantitative data.
• Manage data collection and support analysis of qualitative and quantitative data using appropriate software and techniques (such as Qualtrics and REDCap); maintain organized and secure data records.
• May supervise research and data collection assistants involved in program evaluation activities.
• Support capacity-building activities with partner organizations, such as workshops, training, and dissemination events.
• Coordinate research learning events and other activities to enhance the culture of research.
• Trains undergraduate and/or graduate students and other laboratory, technical or field staff involved in research.
• Other duties as assigned

Project Reporting

• Utilizes summarized results in scientific and/or clientele-oriented publications.
• Prepares and writes proposals to funding agencies and maintains financial accounts related to research projects.

Dissemination of Project Findings

• Summarize and disseminate results for inclusion in peer-reviewed publications, policy briefs, reports, and presentations tailored to academic, community, and practitioner audiences.

Required Education and Experience

• Bachelor's degree in a relevant field or an equivalent combination of education and experience.
• Two years of related experience in specialized and relevant field of research.

Preferred Qualifications

• Master's Degree in related field (e.g. public health, health education, health promotion, program management or other related fields).
• Two years of experience in human-subjects research projects, preferably related to health behavior, health education, or health promotion.
• Three years or more related professional experience.
• Experience conducting human-subjects research.
• Experience with community-engaged research and program evaluation projects.
• Professional background in substance-use prevention, opioid misuse prevention, or behavioral and mental health awareness.
• Experience with managing data collection to ensure progress is maintained.
• Familiarity with evidence-based prevention models, trauma-informed approaches, and youth resilience frameworks.
• Experience developing and utilizing online survey tools and software.
• Experience in writing grant proposals.
• Qualitative data experience (collecting and managing)
• Desire and ability to work collaboratively and help maintain a fun and supportive team environment that is focused on advancing our work to effectively address health disparities for underserved populations.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

• Ability to effectively utilize a computer and applicable software to collect and manage data, present data, and perform other computer related tasks
• Ability to multitask and work cooperatively with others
• Ability to conduct literature reviews and assist in academic writing (such as conference abstracts, presentations, and articles for publication)
• Ability to generate reports for academic and community-based audiences
• Ability to liaise between internal project staff and external partner organizations, including but not limited to schools and community-based organizations
• Familiarity with MS office apps including Excel, Word, PowerPoint, and Outlook
• Excellent oral and written communication skills.

Why Texas A&M University?

We are a prestigious university with strong traditions, Core Values, and a community of caring and collaboration. Amenities associated with a major university, such as sporting and cultural events, state-of-the-art recreation facilities, the Bush Library and Museum, and much more await you. Experience all that a big city has to offer but with a reasonable cost-of-living and no long commutes.

• Medical, prescription drug, dental, vision, life and AD&D, flexible spending accounts, and long-term disability insurance with Texas A&M contributing to employee health and basic life premiums
• 12-15 days of annual paid holidays
• Up to eight hours of paid sick leave and at least eight hours of paid vacation each month
• Automatic enrollment in the Teacher Retirement System of Texas
• Health and Wellness: Free exercise programs and release time
• Professional Development: All employees have access to free LinkedIn Learning training, webinars, and limited financial support to attend conferences, workshops, and more
• Educational release time and tuition assistance for completing a degree while a Texas A&M employee
• Living Well, a program at Texas A&M that has been built by employees, for employees

Instructions to Applicants: Applications received by Texas A&M University must either have all job application data entered, or a resume attached. Failure to provide all job application data or a complete resume could result in an invalid submission and a rejected application. We encourage all applicants to upload a resume or use a LinkedIn profile to prepopulate the online application.

All positions are security-sensitive. Applicants are subject to a criminal history investigation, and employment is contingent upon the institution's verification of credentials and/or other information required by the institution's procedures, including the completion of the criminal history check.

Equal Opportunity/Veterans/Disability Employer.