Pro-Tem Data Scientist for the Ballmer Wellness Project

Department: The Ballmer Institute for Children’s Behavioral Health
Rank: Research Scientist, Senior Research Scientist 1, Senior Research Scientist II
Annual Basis: 12 Month

Review of Applications Begins

August 19, 2024; position open until filled

Special Instructions to Applicants

Department Summary

The Ballmer Institute for Children’s Behavioral Health at the University of Oregon Portland establishes a new national model for behavioral healthcare for children and families by creating the nation’s first undergraduate program in child behavioral health. The institute prioritizes the needs of youth who have been historically or persistently underserved and seeks to make real system change by creating a new mental health profession that addresses existing barriers and gaps in mental health services, delivering support in schools and the community, training existing youth-serving professionals, developing new approaches to support child behavioral health and transforming the Pacific Northwest into a national model of thought and action. Launched in March 2022, this groundbreaking institute was made possible by an extraordinary gift from Connie and Steve Ballmer, co-founders of Ballmer Group Philanthropy.

The Ballmer Wellness Project (BWP) is an externally funded project that aims to enhance the capacity of Oregon K12 schools by providing universal and targeted mental health screening programs. The goals of the BWP are to: Identify students at elevated risk for mental health problems; deliver evidence-based preventive interventions to mitigate identified risks; and disseminate promising practices to Oregon schools seeking to implement universal and/or targeted mental health screening and prevention programs.

Position Summary

The Pro-Tem Data Scientist for the Ballmer Wellness Project is responsible for guiding data collection, cleaning, processing, evaluation, analysis, visualization, and dashboard creation projects for the Ballmer Wellness Project under the direction of the Director of Program Evaluation, Dr. Prerna Martin. The Data Scientist will develop systems for securely acquiring confidential data in diverse environments including schools and healthcare settings and use analytic software programs to independently convert, merge, and assemble large-scale administrative data. They will establish, maintain, and upkeep an ETL (extract, transform, load) data process of confidential data hosted at the Ballmer Institute. The Data Scientist will perform statistical analysis using analytic software programs, and when appropriate, serve as data expert to provide consultation for and participate in discussions regarding study design and methodology. Additionally, the Data Scientist will create results summaries, visualizations, dashboards, and reports using open source and/or business intelligence tools. They will also summarize and prepare research results for reports and publications.

This position is a twelve–month position in the Research Scientist classification series.

Minimum Requirements

Professional Competencies

• Proficiency with R, Python, VBA, SQL/PostgreSQL, STATA, SAS and/or other appropriate program languages
• Proficiency with visualization tools (PowerBI, ggplot, seaborn)
• Proficiency with data cleaning, quality check, diagnosis of inconsistencies/accuracy of large-scale administrative data
• Proficiency in statistical methodology
• Ability to take initiative, problem-solve, and work in a collaborative research environment
• Ability to translate and convey complex concepts and study findings in oral and written communications

Preferred Qualifications

• Understanding of youth behavioral health early identification and screening in K12 schools or health care systems or other forms of early identification of mental health concerns
• Understanding of evidence-based behavioral health promotion, prevention, and intervention for common behavioral health concerns, including anxiety, depression, and trauma
• Experience managing large data sets inclusive of K12 and/or youth behavioral health data

All offers of employment are contingent upon successful completion of a background check.

The University of Oregon is proud to offer a robust benefits package to eligible employees, including health insurance, retirement plans, and paid time off. For more information about benefits, visit https://hr.uoregon.edu/about-benefits.

The University of Oregon is an equal opportunity, affirmative action institution committed to cultural diversity and compliance with the ADA. The University encourages all qualified individuals to apply and does not discriminate on the basis of any protected status, including veteran and disability status. The University is committed to providing reasonable accommodations to applicants and employees with disabilities. To request an accommodation in connection with the application process, please contact us at [email protected] or 541-346-5112.

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