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Professor Yuko Munakata seeks to fill a Part-time junior specialist position in the Center for Mind and Brain at the University of California, Davis to begin March 2025. The position is for 1 year with the possibility of renewal based on performance and funding.

The lab studies the development of executive functioning, investigating how children learn to achieve goals by planning ahead, stopping themselves from doing things they shouldn’t do, flexibly switching from one activity to another, and solving problems. The lab also explores social and contextual factors that shape the development of executive function, and implications for intervention.

The junior specialist will work closely with the PI and lab group to support and participate in all aspects of the lab’s research in executive function development. The position will involve collaborating with the PI, postdocs, and grad students to develop new experimental designs and procedures, analyze and interpret data, present research at conferences, and submit manuscripts for publication.

Responsibilities will include:

Research (70%)

● Make substantive contributions to study design, stimulus creation, data analysis and interpretations

● Test child and adult research participants using behavioral, eye tracking, and brain imaging techniques

● Recruit, interview, and consent participants or their caregivers

● Make substantive contributions to presentations, publications, grant proposals, and grant progress reports
● Participate in weekly discussions of relevant literature, and conduct literature reviews relevant to the work being conducted

● Support outreach efforts to partner with relevant organizations in the community around common interests (e.g., developing mobile research exhibits for children’s museums)

● Prepare figures and text for presentation at research conferences and for manuscripts to be submitted for publication.

University and Public Service (30%)

● Train and mentor undergraduate students on participant recruitment, data collection, coding and analyses protocols. This will provide a university service in that they will be actively facilitating the participation of undergraduate students in research activities.

As a condition of employment, the finalist will be required to disclose if they are subject to any final administrative or judicial decisions within the last seven years determining that they committed any misconduct, are currently being investigated for misconduct, left a position during an investigation for alleged misconduct, or have filed an appeal with a previous employer.

• “Misconduct” means any violation of the policies or laws governing conduct at the applicant’s previous place of employment, including, but not limited to, violations of policies or laws prohibiting sexual harassment, sexual assault, or other forms of harassment, discrimination, dishonesty, or unethical conduct, as defined by the employer.
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