About UMass Amherst
UMass Amherst, the Commonwealth's flagship campus, is a nationally ranked public research university offering a full range of undergraduate, graduate and professional degrees. The University sits on nearly 1,450-acres in the scenic Pioneer Valley of Western Massachusetts and offers a rich cultural environment in a bucolic setting close to major urban centers. In addition, the University is part of the Five Colleges (including Amherst College, Hampshire College, Mount Holyoke College, and Smith College), which adds to the intellectual energy of the region.
Job Summary
Drs. Charlie Schweik (Dept of Environmental Conservation and School of Public Policy) and Brenda Bushouse (School of Public Policy) seek to hire a Computational Social Science postdoctoral research associate with specific interests in the study of Institutional Analysis (meaning the study of governance and rules and norms of behavior) for a two-year appointment working on an NSF-funded project in its third year (). The scholar will work with an interdisciplinary team from Nonprofit and Voluntary Action Studies, Public Policy, Computer Science, Anthropology, and Communications at UMass Amherst, UC Davis, and the University of Washington.
The candidate needs to be a systems-level thinker who can combine tools, methods, and data to answer questions in novel domains. Much of the data we work with are text, so experience using text as data is key (though using text-as-data methods is more important than producing methods for this position). This successful candidate is expected to contribute to , collection of datasets, the innovative generation of analysis pipelines, and the production of papers for both conferences and journals.
About the Project
Open-source software communities are complex, dynamic, social systems and, because of their open access policies, provide a rich opportunity for investigating self-governing institutions, nonprofit governance, collective action, sociotechnical systems, and polycentricity. Data include complete communications and code over time for hundreds of self-governing projects that are affiliated with nonprofit organizations often referred to as "foundations".
In this project we seek to discern the socio-technical structural and governance conditions under which Internet-based freely downloadable open-source software (OSS) projects are successful including both independent project development and incubation in nonprofit foundations. The overall goal is to advance knowledge of how to sustain voluntary contributions to the OSS commons for the ongoing development of OSS. The data availability creates major methodological opportunities at the intersections of machine learning, natural language processing, longitudinal data, institutional analysis,
Essential Functions
Other Functions
Minimum Qualifications (Knowledge, Skills, Abilities, Education, Experience, Certifications, Licensure)
Preferred Qualifications (Knowledge, Skills, Abilities, Education, Experience, Certifications, Licensure)
Physical Demands/Working Conditions
Work Schedule
Salary Information
Special Instructions to Applicants
Along with the application, please submit a letter of application, a resume, a research sample (published or submitted full-length paper), and a code sample (ideally one that demonstrates an ability to tie together multiple technologies to produce a novel output in a different field). References will be checked at the finalist stage. Please be prepared to provide contact information for three (3) professional references).
As part of a commitment to their own multicultural community, CNS seeks an individual with a demonstrated commitment to diversity and one who will understand and embrace university initiatives and aspirations. ()
UMass Amherst is committed to a policy of equal opportunity without regard to race, color, religion, caste, creed, sex, age, marital status, national origin, disability, political belief or affiliation, pregnancy and pregnancy-related condition(s), veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, genetic information, natural and protective hairstyle and any other class of individuals protected from discrimination in employment, admission to and participation in academic programs, activities, and services, and the selection of vendors who provide services or products to the University. To fulfill that policy, UMass Amherst is further committed to a program of affirmative action to eliminate or mitigate artificial barriers and to increase opportunities for the recruitment and advancement of qualified minorities, women, persons with disabilities, and covered veterans. It is the policy of UMass Amherst to comply with the applicable federal and state statutes, rules, and regulations concerning equal opportunity and affirmative action.