Recruiting: Postdoctoral Research Associate
Project: Addressing misclassification in the microbiome: A data-scientific
approach to propagating uncertainty in microbial community composition
Institutions: University of Wisconsin–Madison (Dr. Thea Whitman and Dr. Karl
Broman) and the University of Washington (Dr. Amy Willis)
Salary: $47,476 or commensurate with experience, with the potential for renewal
for a second year
We are recruiting a postdoctoral researcher to work on a multi-institutional
project developing an automated pipeline for analyzing microbiome data that
adjusts for different levels of data quality in the microbial genome sequencing
process. Bioinformatics choices have an enormous impact on microbiome data
analysis, but the preprocessing and statistical analysis steps are almost
always considered as independent steps. The project will develop a method and
software to integrate information about data quality (e.g., in taxonomic
assignment) into data analysis (including, but not limited to, hypothesis
testing). A core goal of the project is improving the reproducibility of
microbiome studies.
The successful candidate will join a dynamic team of researchers, working with
the PIs to develop the algorithms and programming the pipeline. The pipeline
will be implemented as an open-source R package that provides methods to
estimate, propagate and visualize uncertainty in microbiome data. The postdoc
will also develop and run day-long workshops and for users of the pipeline. In
order to provide access to a robust data science community and increased
training and professional development opportunities, the postdoc will
participate actively in the UW-Madison Data Science Hub, dedicating 10% of
their time to hub activities such as training for and then leading Data or
Software Carpentry workshops and participating in data science seminars.
The ideal candidates will have interest in one or more of the following areas:
• Microbiome data analysis and methods development
• Bioinformatics
• Statistics
• Microbiology/microbial ecology
• User-focused software development
In addition, ideal candidates will have expertise in one or more of the
following areas:
• Bioinformatics pipelines for marker gene analysis and/or microbial
ecology
• Data quality in high throughput sequencing
• Bioinformatics pipelines for microbial ecology
• Software development in R and/or python
The position will ideally start during fall of 2018. Completion of the PhD
degree is required before beginning the position. Application review will begin
August 20, 2018. To apply, please email [email protected] and [email protected]
the following materials:
• Cover letter/statement of interest
• CV
• Code sample (optional)
• Publication or research sample (optional)
We encourage women, minorities, veterans, and people with disabilities to apply
for this position. UW–Madison is an equal opportunity employer that hires
without regard to, but not limited to, the following: gender, race, colour,
national origin, sexual orientation, creed, religion, age, marital status,
disability, genetic information, political affiliation, ancestry, status as a
veteran or disabled veteran, or other classifications protected by state or
federal laws.
