The Department of Preventive Medicine is seeking a full-time Senior Research Associate to be part of the Social Media Analytics (SOMA) Lab at the Keck School of Medicine of USC. SOMA Lab comprises a multidisciplinary team of researchers conducting studies at the intersection of public health, communication, and technology. In general, research projects at SOMA Lab include: (1) identifying, quantifying, and describing promotional practices of companies across various industries and determining how such practices affect offline health-related behaviors; (2) examining user experiences with popular new tobacco products to understand their appeal, and the social and environmental characteristics surrounding their use; (3) identifying the extent of unsubstantiated health claims (or misinformation) pertaining to substances like nicotine, cannabis, and products like electronic cigarettes. More information about SOMA Lab can be found at https://somalab.usc.edu/.
The Senior Research Associate will assist with aims related to the California Tobacco Control Program’s Tobacco Industry Monitoring Evaluation (TIME). The main goal of the project is to inform comprehensive tobacco control policy efforts by monitoring core tobacco industry practices related to electronic cigarettes and other new and emerging non-combustible nicotine products, and little cigars and cigarillos in three core tobacco industry practices: advertising and marketing on social media platforms, direct marketing, and underage online sales.
Overall, a successful candidate must have completed a Ph.D. in a social science setting, have excellent organizational skills, work well as a member of a research team, be able to work independently, and have good interpersonal skills. Successful applicants will be expected to collaborate in a multidisciplinary environment under the leadership of the SOMA Lab director.
Interested candidates should submit a letter outlining their research experiences (one page), CV with prior academic record, reprints of any relevant publications, and names of three references.
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