APPLICATION INSTRUCTIONS:

• CURRENT PENN STATE EMPLOYEE (faculty staff technical service or student) please login to Workday to complete the internal application process. Please do not apply here apply internally through Workday.

• CURRENT PENN STATE STUDENT (not employed previously at the university) and seeking employment with Penn State please login to Workday to complete the student application process. Please do not apply here apply internally through Workday.

• If you are NOT a current employee or student please click Apply and complete the application process for external applicants.

Approval of remote and hybrid work is not guaranteed regardless of work additional information on remote work at Penn State seeNotice to Out of State Applicants.

POSITION SPECIFICS

The Department of Anthropology at The Pennsylvania State University invites applications for a Postdoctoral Scholar to investigate the relationship between oral health race/ethnicity and the human oral microbiome using the CDC National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). This NIH-funded position will focus on understanding how oral microbial communities mediate differences in oral and systemic health using an evolutionary health framework. There will be a specific emphasis on applying advanced bioinformatics and statistical approaches to large population-level datasets in this research. The successful candidate will join the microARCH team led by Dr. Laura Weyrich. MicroARCH is situated within the Department of Anthropology and the One Health Microbiome Center and collaborates with an international interdisciplinary team across anthropology microbiology and dental health.

Responsibilities:

Analyze oral microbiome data from NHANES and related datasets to identify patterns linked to oral health outcomes and health disparities.

Apply and develop bioinformatic pipelines statistical models and computational tools to assess associations between microbial composition oral health status race/ethnicity and broader measures of health.

Contribute to manuscripts conference presentations and grant applications in this research area.

Collaborate across a team of faculty postdocs and students in anthropology microbiology and public health.

Engage with broader discussions on the ethical and social dimensions of oral microbiome research particularly in the context of health inequalities.

Required Qualifications:

A Ph.D. in Anthropology Microbiology Epidemiology Public Health Biostatistics Computational Biology or a related field at the time of appointment.

Demonstrated expertise in bioinformatics statistics microbiome data analysis and/or computational methods.

Experience working with large population-level datasets (e.g. NHANES data sets or other large-scale equivalent).

A strong record of peer-reviewed publications and scientific communication.

Commitment to research that integrates biological social and ethical perspectives on oral health.

Preferred Qualifications:

Experience analyzing oral microbiome datasets (16S shotgun metagenomics or metatranscriptomics).

Advanced programming and data science skills in R Python or other relevant languages.

Familiarity with frameworks for studying race racism and health disparities.

Experience developing reproducible pipelines and working in high-performance computing environments.

The College of the Liberal Arts is committed to offering professional growth and promotional opportunities for non-tenure-line faculty appointments. Information on faculty ranks and progression can be found at candidates must submit an online application at Penn States Job Posting Board and should upload the following application materials: a cover letter describing research background experience in bioinformatics/statistics and/or with complex survey data (e.g. with sampling weights) and interest in the position an up-to-date curriculum vitae a two-page research statement outlining their broad research interests and how these connect to their long-term career goals and contact information for three references. System limitations allow for a total of 5 documents (5mb per document) as part of your application. Please combine materials to meet the 5-document limit.

For information on the position please contact Tina Rader at

Visit our website at for more information about Penn States Department of Anthropology.

Review of applications will begin immediately and continue until the position is filled.

BACKGROUND CHECKS/CLEARANCES

BENEFITS

For more detailed information please visit ourBenefits Page. (Note: For Postdoctoral benefits please see our Postdoctoral Benefits page.)

CAMPUS SECURITY CRIME STATISTICS

Pursuant to the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act and the Pennsylvania Act of 1988 Penn State publishes a combined Annual Security and Annual Fire Safety Report (ASR). The ASR includes crime statistics and institutional policies concerning campus security such as those concerning alcohol and drug use crime prevention the reporting of crimes sexual assault and other matters. The ASR is available for review here.

Federal Contractors Labor Law Poster

PA State Labor Law Poster

Penn State Policies

Copyright Information

Hotlines