Research COVID-19 S.M.A.R.T. (and Contact Tracer Employment Training Program!)
2-15 hours/week

COVID SMART is a short-term project led by Results International’s Dr. Phoenix Mourning-Star, a former WHO epidemiologist assisting the Waterville and Kennebec county area in researching mobilized community response for the rural community.

This project aims to support community members and leaders in developing technologically augmented strategies and fact-checking for decreasing the impact on the local rural community by leveraging the knowledge and time of engaged area college students in public health, sociology computer science, GIS, political science and other multidisciplinary fields.
***This work is currently all volunteer, with funding from RIRC & Dr. Mourning-Star as we await resources from regional supporters.***

***To apply, please submit the application, email two (2) project topics of interest with two (2) bullet points describing your goals or skills outcomes and hours of availability with your resume to admin@ireinspire.com and include ” COVID REMOTE/VIRTUAL Research Internship & Traineeship Programs” in the subject line.

Job Duties
Prepare initial drafts of letters of inquiry.
Assist in creating and maintaining a calendar of deadlines and cycles.
Help prepare supporting documentation for research projects, develop teams, timelines and facilitate information flow.

Minimum Required Skills and Experience
Detail-oriented.
Strong written and oral communication skills.
Strong research and writing skills and experience.
Ability to work independently as well as a part of a team with minimal supervision while maintaining a “can-do” attitude.

Desired Programs of Study
Students studying Political Science, International Affairs, Public Administration, Global Studies, Environmental Health/Science, Watershed Science, Ecology, Statistics, Engineering (various disciplines).
Interests in health, biology, community, civic engagement, service learning and the like.

***To apply, please submit the application, email resume and hours of availability to admin@ireinspire.com and include “REMOTE/VIRTUAL Research Internship & Traineeship Programs” in the subject line.
**These positions are currently unpaid, but are all available to support academic credit at your institution. But don’t forget to ask about our Contact Tracer Employment Training Program to learn how to get the inside track on new employment opportunities!

Dr. Mourning-Star (LinkedIn) has an extensive history in public health, vaccine testing, rural diversity and designing citizen science projects (PPSR):

– IHME Collaborator: Suggests new data sources, critique results, providing feedback on covariates and modeling approaches, contribute to publications, participate as co-author, and work with IHME’s Global Engagement team on outreach about the findings. Engage in producing annual updates for the GBD estimates, a yearly cycle of gathering and analyzing data, modeling diseases, finalizing results, and publishing the findings and providing input for follow-on year’s estimates.

– World Health Organization Researcher: Convened world leaders in research collaboration. Assessed the global impact of lead (Pb) adjusting for country level increases in awareness, new epidemiologic evidence and changes in exposure to lead for the 2010 Global Burden of Disease Project. Developed an improved non-parametric statistical adjustment for the lead exposure analysis in converting bone lead measurement to blood lead measurements.

– NSF Strategic Goal (https://www.nsf.gov/about/budget/fy2019/pdf/53_fy2019.pdf): Page 18 of this FY17 NSF Strategic goal came from his section team he led at NSF as the lead Statistician/STEM Analyst. The result was the Asst Director of NSF pushed this forward to create a specific funding mechanism for Citizen Science (Public Participation in STEM Research aka PPSR).

– White House Launch (https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/blog/2014/12/02/designing-citizen-science-and-crowdsourcing-toolkit-federal-government): The White House launch hosted by the Office of Science & Technology Policy asked Dr. Mourning-Star’s section at NSF to lead the presentation of federal investments in citizen science.

– EPA Citizen Science Toolkit (https://www.citizenscience.gov/toolkit/howto/#): NSF funding through Dr. Mourning-Star’s NSF section was the backbone of the underlying research. As lead of the NSF team, he guided the NIH and USDA Design, Data and Sustain/Improve sections since we were the key federal funder of citizen science (PPSR). As a statistician, he led the Data and Design sections personally. This is now the template for Federal Agencies (and many state agencies) for conducting science-based civic engagement.

**This position is unpaid.