New Job Research Associate In North Carolina

Department

Chemistry-318300

Career Area

Research Professionals

Posting Open Date

06/08/2023

Application Deadline

06/28/2023

Open Until Filled

No

Position Type

Permanent Staff (EHRA NF)

Working Title

Research Associate

Appointment Type

EHRA Non-Faculty

Position Number

20042484

Vacancy ID

NF0007044

Full Time/Part Time

Full-Time Permanent

FTE

1

Hours per week

40

Position Location

North Carolina, US

Hiring Range

Dependent upon qualifications or experience

Proposed Start Date

07/17/2023

Primary Purpose of Organizational Unit

The Chemistry Department is one of the largest and most complex departments in the Division of Academic Affairs. There are 43 faculty members, 44 SHRA and EHRA staff positions, 260 graduate students, 33 postdoctoral research associates, 700 undergraduate majors, and an annual total of approximately 10,000 registrations by all students in classroom and laboratory courses. The Department is housed in five buildings with over 580,000 sq. feet of space. The faculty participate in teaching assignments which involve an average of 200 students per faculty member per semester. The majority of faculty are research active and supervise graduate students working on their Masters or Ph.D. degrees, undergraduate students carrying out independent research and honors programs, research technicians and postdoctoral research associates. Primarily the research is funded by federal and private agencies such as NSF, NIH, Army, Navy, DOE, PRF and involves expenditures of more than nineteen million dollars annually. A total of over thirty-two million dollars from all sources is expended annually in the Department.

Position Summary

This position is located in the Chemistry Department within the College of Arts and Sciences. The Research Associate in the Department of Chemistry Mass Spectrometry Core Laboratory at UNC plays a key role in operating and supporting Core laboratory objectives by providing mass spectrometry expertise for utilization and collaboration to both chemical and structural biology-based research laboratories. As the lab manager, this position is to carry out independent research and train all new undergraduate, graduate and post-doctoral lab members.

The primary role (60%) is to conduct project development and instrument optimization for research projects involving mass spectrometer instrumentation and technologies. This entails conducting literature searches, modifying existing instrument protocols, designing and implementing experiments, generating reports to communicate findings to Core users, clients, the Core Director and/or other members, and keeping thorough records of all observations and investigations. Experiments include novel structure elucidation, complex mixture analysis, extractions from biological matrices such as blood, plasma, tissues, and cell culture; mass spectrometry-based metabolomics and lipidomics. This work requires strong knowledge of existing mass spectrometry instrumentation and complementary technologies like liquid chromatography, the use of bioinformatics, data science tools, and python programming.

The second role (20%) is orchestrating the training of new undergraduate, graduate and post-doctoral lab users in laboratory instruments/methods and computational tasks, while assisting with the interpretation of complex data.

The third role (20%) is dedicated to lab management. Ensuring that the lab runs smoothly, tracking inventory and purchasing supplies, and a culture of lab safety and compliance with chemical and biological regulations is paramount.

Minimum Education and Experience Requirements

Relevant post-Baccalaureate degree required (or foreign degree equivalent); for candidates demonstrating comparable independent research productivity, will accept a relevant Bachelor’s degree (or foreign degree equivalent) and 3 or more years of relevant experience in substitution. May require terminal degree and licensure.

Required Qualifications, Competencies, and Experience

The Research Associate will have the following essential competencies:

• Recent experience working in a research laboratory that focuses on problems of compelling chemical and/or biological importance.
• Demonstrated ability to work with a high level of independence, to troubleshoot mass spectrometry and chromatography equipment, to solve experimental problems independently, and to be able to relate work to the larger big-picture laboratory context.
• Recent experience working with large datasets as evidenced by independently analyzing mass spectrometry-based metabolomic, lipidomic, or quantitative data sets.
• Recent experience in computational bioinformatics as evidenced by programming and problem solving.
• Ability to interact constructively with diverse individuals with recent experience in training or teaching laboratory personnel.
• Knowledge of modern mass spectrometer equipment and software from various vendors.
• Ability to work occasional long days, as research work requires.

Preferred Qualifications, Competencies, and Experience

MSc degree preferred

Special Physical/Mental Requirements

Campus Security Authority Responsibilities