[Infovis] postdoc for Designing for People UBC Graduate Training Program

[Tamara Munzner]

The new Designing For People initiative at UBC is a broader human-computer
interaction project that includes visualization as a key focus area, and we
have a postdoc position available right now. Applications are broadly
invited, including people with a general HCI background and people with a
specific visualization background. If you're at CHI in Denver May 8-11, you
can connect in person with Karon MacLean or Joanna McGrenere, see below. If
you're from the visualization community, feel free to contact me (Tamara
Munzner) directly.

Cheers, Tamara
----
Tamara Munzner
Professor, Department of Computer Science, University of British Columbia
http://www.cs.ubc.ca/~tmm, tmm at cs.ubc.ca


Postdoctoral Fellow
with the Designing for People @ UBC Graduate Training Program
University of British Columbia, Canada

Designing for People (DFP -- a pan-university research cluster) is
seeking applications for a one-year (renewable for a second year)
postdoctoral fellow to play a pivotal role in designing and delivering
an innovative cross-departmental graduate program in Human Computer
Interaction. The position is available immediately at UBC’s Point Grey
campus in Vancouver, Canada.

Description:

DFP is developing a new two-year graduate enrichment program with first
phase of delivery targeted for September 2017. The teaching postdoc is
envisioned to play a multi-faceted role for this program. The two
primary foci for Year 1 are to work with a faculty team on the design
and delivery of the program’s two core courses: (1) foundations of HCI,
and (2) an eight-month externally-sponsored, team-based project in
user-centered design. Both of these will be done in partnership with a
network of DFP faculty members. The position has some flexibility –
candidates who are also interested in building their research portfolio
will have the option to include DFP research as part of their job
description. For example, program evaluation is a secondary goal for the
position, which includes assessment of best practices for ‘team’
building and interdisciplinarity. The postdoc could use the DFP
environment to conduct research on these topics.

Thus, this role will be ideal for an individual who wants to groom
themself for a professional career in innovative, high-value education,
rising out of a stellar doctoral research program - for example, as a
tenure-track instructor, and/or education researcher.

Application Criteria:

- The applicant should hold a PhD in a “Designing for People”
discipline. We expect to see applicants from, for example, Computer
Science, iSchools, or human-facing engineering (human factors) design.
In exceptional cases, a research-type Master’s degree combined with
professional instructional experience will be considered.
- Start dates are somewhat flexible, but the ideal candidate would start
by July 2017, or as soon as possible thereafter.
- Applicants must have relevant HCI / user-centered design teaching
skills, demonstrated by a successful teaching portfolio (e.g., serving
as a teaching assistant and ideally a lecturer for HCI courses).
- Applicants should also have relevant HCI / user-centered design
research experience, demonstrated by publications in high-quality venues.
- Applicants should have experience with a variety of human-centered
research methods (research ethics, questionnaires, qualitative
interviews, and other education evaluation metrics).

Application submission:

Interested applicants should send the following information to
dfp-postdoc at cs.ubc.ca:

- a brief letter of application, clarifying interest and fit to the position
- a curriculum vitae
- three reference letters (to be sent separately)

We will review applications as they arrive.


Further information:

For more information about the position contact:
Karon MacLean (maclean at cs.ubc.ca) or
Joanna McGrenere (joanna at cs.ubc.ca)

Designing For People – HCI at UBC is a new research cluster that brings
together faculty and students from across many units at UBC who are
focused on designing interactive technologies for human use. Our
temporary website can be found at: http://apsc-hci.sites.olt.ubc.ca/

Vancouver is recognized as one of the most livable cities in the world.
More information can be found at http://vancouver.ca/aboutvan.htm

UBC hires on the basis of merit and is strongly committed to equity and
diversity within its community. We especially welcome applications from
visible minority group members, women, Aboriginal persons, persons with
disabilities, persons of minority sexual orientations and gender
identities, and others with the skills and knowledge to productively
engage with diverse communities.

UBC eligibility for the postdoctoral fellow rank is such that the
appointment must commence within five years of being awarded a PhD
(excluding maternity/parental/adoptive leave).