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Postdoc Description
The Positive Psychology Center at the University of Pennsylvania seeks a Postdoctoral Research Fellow to begin summer or fall 2013, for one to four years with potential for employment on future projects. The fellow will play a central role on a large grant examining Positive Health among soldiers in the Armed Forces. The project examines the influence of psychological and physical health assets on physical health, illness, health care utilization, and health care expenditure.

The fellow will serve as a link between the grant's senior scientists and the U.S. Army's Research Facilitation Team (RFT). The fellow will develop expert knowledge on the data elements (i.e., origin of measures, psychometrics, statistical relations) using the Person-Event Data Environment (PDE), a virtual electronic warehouse of medical, psychological, health, training, and personnel information, which has been gathered on over one million Army soldiers. The position involves extensive database management and statistical analysis, providing numerous opportunities for collaborative publication with senior scientists.

The fellow will help the senior scientists operationalize the strategic goals into actionable lines of data analysis, refine research questions based on the constraints of the PDE, harvest the required data, assist in preparing the data for analysis, and ensure that the programmers and team work within established privacy guidelines set by the Army Analytics Group (AAG) and the Army's Chief Information Officer (CIO). The fellow will perform advanced statistical modeling and data analysis, and serve as a secondary technical writer, helping to prepare manuscripts for publication in scientific journals. The fellow will assist the RFT Director in communicating the team's successes to the broader Army and scientific community, and keep the RFT Director and senior scientists apprised of advances made by the team.

The fellow will work with grant senior scientists including Dr. Martin E.P. Seligman (PI), Dr. Rhonda Cornum (co-PI), Dr. Laura Kubzansky, Dr. Laurence Steinberg, Dr. Edward Diener, and Dr. Darwin Labarthe.

Experience mining large-scale medical and behavioral data sets, using relational database software, and advanced modeling programs (i.e., Mplus or EQS) as well as an understanding of the interface between mental and physical health is required. Strong quantitative training in both person- and variable-centered techniques is essential. Individuals with a Ph.D. in psychology, health and human development, social epidemiology, developmental psychopathology or a related field are encouraged to apply. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis. The fellow will work in Monterey, CA and travel to the sites of the data analysis teams. Please send CV, statement of interest (two pages max), 2 reprints/preprints, 2-3 letters of recommendation, and at least 3 references to: Libby Benson, lbens@psych.upenn.edu. The University of Pennsylvania is an EOE/Affirmative Action Employer.