Job Title: Research Assistant
PVN ID: BA-2201-004491
Category: Research
Location: BARUCH COLLEGE

Job Description

General Description

This work will investigate the impact of COVID-19 on mortality among poor New Yorkers using burial records from Hart Island, the city’s potter’s field. The proposed research will provide new evidence on how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected poor New Yorkers by estimating all-cause excess mortality by sex, race/ethnicity, and location during the first and second waves of the outbreak using previously unexplored death records from Hart Island, New York City’s indigent burial ground. Although a rise in burials among decedents without family to pay for private services has been documented both worldwide and throughout the United States in this pandemic, Hart Island is the largest such burial site in the U.S. providing an important rationale for its study.

The study team will work on 1) providing estimates of excess mortality due to COVID-19 among poor New Yorkers during the first and second waves of the pandemic; 2) examining the impact of COVID-19 on racial/ethnic disparities at the individual and neighborhood-level during the different phases of the pandemic among those who experience indigent burial; 3) comparing excess mortality estimated from Hart Island burials to other estimates including those for average New Yorkers based on official death counts (by characteristics and over time) to study the role of poverty and to uncover potential limitations in reporting accuracy and health record-keeping; 4) making accessible for future research an innovative data product on an understudied population that advances the research infrastructure on mortality and indigent burial in demography, public health, sociology, economics, and urban studies.

In order to achieve these goals, the study team will use demographic, geographic, and epidemiologic methods and a variety of spatial and statistical modeling techniques to provide analysis to bring new understanding to disparities in COVID-19 mortality.

These findings will be presented globally at professional meetings and in academic and policy outlets for broad dissemination. Must be able to work in teams as well as be self-directed.

Other Duties

Duties will include record extraction, data assembly, variable coding and imputation, and then processing them analytically (both spatially and in analytical tables). Individual will also help with geocoding addresses and matching block and tract-level census data (that candidate will download, prepare and integrate).

Work must be at a high level conceptually as well as technically.

Qualifications

Skills in data preparation and analysis, including scripting, thematic map making, multivariate statistical analysis, and spatial analysis.

  • Familiarity with demographic data and methods.
  • Advanced knowledge of Stata (including working with and preparing complex do-files, merging datasets, conducting regression analyses, etc.).
  • Knowledge of analyzing spatial data with software (ArcGIS, QGIS or R)
  • Attention to detail.
  • Ability to write technical documents, produce analytical tables, graphs, and polished maps; and to contribute to published papers.
  • Masters in quantitative social or health science or closely-related field.
  • PhD/DPh candidates will be considered but applicants must address fit to position noting that the work is all project-based.
  • Experience working with (cleaning, transforming, analyzing) demographic data and spatial data.
  • The potential to learn and collaborate with colleagues.
  • Prior research experience.

Also desirable:

  • Understanding of policy applications;
  • Knowledge of open-source software tools and programs for spatial analysis and database extraction and management (SQLite, PostgreDQL, etc.)

RFCUNY Benefits

RFCUNY Employee Benefits and Accruals

About the Research Foundation

The Research Foundation of The City University of New York (RFCUNY) was established as a not-for-profit educational corporation chartered by the State of New York in 1963. RFCUNY supports CUNY faculty and staff in identifying and obtaining external support (pre-award) from government and private sponsors and is responsible for the administration of all such funded programs (post-award).

RFCUNY stands between CUNY’s principal investigators (PIs) and the sponsors who support them and strives to fulfill its essential responsibilities to both groups. Working closely with individual PIs and Grants Officers on the campuses, RFCUNY oversees employment, accounting, audit, reporting, purchasing, and special responsibilities that include management of a planned giving program; liaison with governmental agencies and foundations; negotiation of agreements; facility construction and renovation; protection and commercialization of intellectual property; and compliance with applicable standards in research involving human subjects, animal care, environmental and radiological safety, and conflicts of interest.

Equal Employment Opportunity Statement

The Research Foundation of the City University of New York is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action/Americans with Disabilities Act/E-Verify Employer. It is the policy of the Research Foundation of CUNY to provide equal employment opportunities free of discrimination based on race, color, age, religion, sex, pregnancy, childbirth, national origin, disability, marital status, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic information, marital status, domestic violence victim status, arrest record, criminal conviction history, or any other protected characteristic under applicable law.

Key Features

Department
CUNY Institute for Demographic Research
Status
Part Time
Pay Range
$18.00-$22.00
Hour(s) a week
15.00-19.00
Closing Date
Mar 11, 2022 (Or Until Filled)
Bargaining Unit
No

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