Past Opportunities Through the Quantitative Analysis Institute
Below is a list of past opportunities through the QAI. For current positions, please click here. To apply for opportunities or express interest in these positions, please click here. Applications will be considered on a rolling basis. For any questions, please contact Casey Pattanayak at cpattanayak@wellesley.edu.
Summer Intern for the Quantitative Analysis Institute: This is a full-time, 10-week position supporting all of the activities of the QAI, including the QAI Summer Course, online resources, and statistical consulting. Please apply even if you are graduating this year. Preference for an intern who has taken either the QAI Summer Course, QR 260, or QR 309.
R Tutor: Provide support for students taking various courses on campus that require R. Particular need for help with a political science course, but no political science background required. 4 hours/week.
Research Assistant for project focused on social networks in a French novel (with the QAI, Helene Bilis, French Department, and Jen Bartle, Digital Scholarship Initiatives): French skills not necessary, but let us know if you do have an interest in French literature. Requires computing skills in R, python, or another software, but no particular course background.
Research Assistant for Betsy Knapp '64, trustee of the College, who has been collecting weather station data across her property in consultation with our Botanic Gardens and is looking for a student to help her make sense of it. This could be semester work or potentially for the summer or beyond - please apply to begin the conversation.
Research Assistant for legal experiment (possible joint position with QAI and Harvard Law School). If this RA position becomes available, it would involve preparing data and completing data collection for an experiment evaluating the effects of legal aid. Attention to detail required. Non-seniors only.
Guthman Fellow in Statistical Consulting: Guthman Fellows are a key part of the QAI’s statistical consulting practice, supporting projects and providing advice to faculty and students on research projects across campus. Fellows work with Casey Pattanayak (QAI Director) to prepare for consulting meetings; participate in these meetings; and conduct follow-up work with researchers. As appropriate, Guthman Fellows meet with student researchers on their own to provide statistical support. Students in these positions will be exposed to a variety of statistical techniques and their practical applications - this is an apprenticeship in statistics, particularly recommended for students wondering what it’s like to be a statistician. 5 hours/week.
Research Assistant for QAI Director’s projects: Ongoing statistics research projects include:
- A randomized evaluation of a voter engagement program in Ohio
- An observational comparison of treatments for pre-anorexia where patients were allowed to choose their own treatment groups
- A randomized comparison of single-sex v. coed elementary school classrooms
- A study of best practices for determining sample size in prospective studies that are causal but not randomized
- Methods for estimating causal effects in the presence of blocks or strata
5 hours/week or to be discussed.
Research Assistant for projects outside the QAI: The QAI is frequently asked to recommend student research assistants who know how to work with data. These positions include:
- A study of sperm, egg, and embryo donation in Spain (with Rosanna Hertz, Women’s and Gender Studies and Sociology)
- Analyses of surveys on Wellesley’s shadow grading (with Lee Cuba, Sociology)
- Text analysis of the novel Never Let Me Go, by Ishiguro (with Tavi Gonzalez, English)
- Text analysis of French plays (with Helene Bilis, French)
Please let us know if you are interested in one of these two projects or would like to hear about future requests for other projects.
Teaching Assistant for QR 260 or ECON 309/QR 309/SOC 319: Includes attending labs, holding office hours, and grading.
Teaching Assistant for blended or online program taught through the QAI: Our expanding online resources allow us to offer statistics material to students during the winter and summer. Teaching assistants hold office hours, moderate discussions, and provide feedback to students. This work may take place completely online and off campus, or (especially in the summer) may be both in person and online.
Tutor for statistics across campus: Provide support for students taking various courses on campus that require statistics, data analysis, or statistical software such as R, Stata, and SPSS (you don’t need to know all three).
Hours based on requests from students.
Course Development Assistant for potential WellesleyX-HarvardX online course: Wellesley and Harvard are jointly proposing an online statistical literacy course called, “Real-Life Statistics: Your Chance for Happiness (Or Misery),” taught by Casey Pattanayak and Xiao-Li Meng of Harvard. If the proposal is approved, student assistants will be needed to help create and test the material.
Blended Learning Assistant for QAI: The QAI is continuing to expand its online resources. This position involves finding and creating pedagogical examples, recording screen-captures, editing video, creating online questions and more.
Course Development Assistant for Wellesley’s personal finance MOOC: Wellesley is creating a MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) based on Ann Witte’s personal finance course. Students are needed to help build and manage the course. Requires general quantitative skills and good work habits; economics coursework a plus.
Qualitative Research Assistant for study of egg/sperm/embryo donation: Rosanna Hertz (Women’s and Gender Studies/Sociology) is looking for an assistant to learn a qualitative research software and code interviews. This is an opportunity to learn about analyzing qualitative data.
Guthman Fellow in Text Analysis and Visualization: This position involves creating visualizations based on an existing data set that describes interactions between characters in a French novel. The goal is to create pedagogical material for French 278, a course taught by Prof. Hélène Bilis this semester, working also with Jen Bartle (LTS) as part of the Digital Humanities Initiatives. The student in this position will have the opportunity to learn about interactive graphics, think creatively about how to design visualizations, and act as the statistical expert in a collaboration with humanists. No knowledge of French needed. Requires QR 260, QAI summer course, QR 309, or a CS visualization course completed. This student reports primarily to Hélène Bilis. Approximately 5 hours/week.
Research Assistant for Russian Survey Data Analysis: This RA will work with Prof. Alla Epsteyn (Russian) to analyze the results of a survey on how students engage in language-related extra-curricular activities. This is an opportunity to be the lead data analyst on a project with clear impact on the undergraduate experience. No knowledge of Russian required. Ideally QR 260, QAI summer course, QR 309, or Econ 203 completed; an intro stats course such as Econ 103 or Psych 205 may be sufficient. This student reports primarily to Alla Epsteyn. Hours to be discussed.
Research Assistant at the Office of Institutional Research: OIR is seeking a research assistant to start in the fall semester. This position would support our assessment function, including but not limited to: designing and maintaining the assessment resources website; assisting in programming surveys and preparing data collection instruments; providing logistical support for focus groups, interviews, and surveys conducted by the office; and qualitative and quantitative data analysis. We are especially interested in students who have completed a course in qualitative or quantitative data analysis or research methods and/or who have completed a research or group independent study. This QAI Intern will report to and be paid by the OIR but would join QAI intern meetings for mutual support and sharing ideas.
Visualization Interns: The QAI has been invited to work with LabXchange, Harvard’s new online learning platform, to develop pedagogical materials explaining basic visualizations (histograms, boxplots, etc.) to undergraduates. This work will begin immediately and continue until the end of term 4. Ideally, two students will work on this for 5 hours/week. Open to students who have completed STAT 260, STAT 318, or the QAI Summer Program. These interns will be directly hired by LabXchange and work with both Prof. Pattanayak and the LabXchange team.
Assistant for QAI projects in blended learning or online resources: Our expanding online resources allow us to offer statistics material to students and the public during the winter, summer, or any time. This position involves finding and creating pedagogical examples, recording screencaptures, editing video, creating online questions and more.
QAI Consulting Fellow for Bayer Pharmaceuticals: The QAI partnered with Bayer Pharmaceuticals to provide expert statistical advice, particularly on non-randomized, observational drug trials. Tasks involve reading and providing feedback on study concepts, proposals, protocols, and data analyses, reading related medical and statistical papers, and participating in conversations with Bayer statisticians and researchers. Requires QR/STAT 260, STAT 318, and/or QAI Summer Course. This is an especially good fit for students planning to take QR/STAT 309 in spring 2019. This student reports to Casey Pattanayak. Approx 5 hours/week.
QAI Fellow for Visualization of French Texts: The student in this position will have the opportunity to think creatively about designing visualizations and act as statistical experts in a collaboration with humanists. The focus is on text analyses to quantify comparisons of French plays. No knowledge of French needed. Requires QR/STAT 260, STAT 318, or QAI summer course completed. Reports primarily to Hélène Bilis. Approx 5 hours/week.
Matlab and Python Tutor for the Sciences: This tutor holds evening office hours for students in science courses that rely on computation. No particular course is required as a prerequisite, but experience with matlab and python is needed. We would also like to know whether you have any background in physics, chemistry, or other sciences, though this isn’t necessarily required.
Coding in R: This employment opportunity involves roughly 10 hours of coding in R
coding in R, potentially off-campus. Express interest through google form.
R Tutor for PSYC 101 and PSYC 218: This tutor supports students' introduction to programming in R, with a focus on visualization and interpretation of data produced by student research projects.
Intern for Evidence-Based Teaching: This intern supports the work of the Teaching and Learning Assessment Specialist at the Office of Institutional Research. Tasks involve analyzing small data sets and creating visualizations to help faculty evaluate their teaching and implement evidence-based teaching practices.
Guthman Fellow for Pedagogical Apps: This position involves creating an interactive app (via R) to allow students to easily visualize and analyze their data. Requires strong R programming skills and knowledge of or willingness to learn Shiny, an R package for building interactive apps. This is an opportunity to take the lead on developing a resource that will be used by many other students.
Course Development Intern for POL 299: This intern will help develop pedagogical materials for the political science department’s introductory statistics course.
Intern for Survey Design - Foreign Language Extra-Curriculars: This position involves conducting a survey to explore the ways that Wellesley students engage with foreign language learning outside the classroom.
Guthman Fellow for Visualization of a French Text: This position involves creating visualizations based on an existing data set to describe interactions between characters in a French novel. The goal is to refine and extend pedagogical material for French 278, a course taught by Prof. Hélène Bilis, working also with Jen Bartle (LTS) as part of the Digital Humanities Initiatives. The student in this position will have the opportunity to learn about interactive graphics, think creatively about designing visualizations, and act as the statistical expert in a collaboration with humanists.
Statistics Tutor for Math 101 and Math 221: This tutor holds evening office hours and is also available by appointment for students in these two courses.
R Tutor for ES 220: This tutor will provide support for students learning basic programming skills in R, via office hours and/or appointments.