Lab Manager

Department: Col of Humanities and Soc Science

Classification: Lab & Research Specialist 1

Job Category: Classified Staff

Job Type: Full-Time

Work Schedule: Full-time (1.0 FTE, 40 hrs/wk)

Location: Fairfax, VA

Workplace Type: On Site Required

Pay Band: 03

Salary: Salary commensurate with education and experience

Restricted: Yes

Criminal Background Check: Yes

About the Department:

The Psychology Department advances the understanding of behavior and its determinants, and educates our students in the methods and knowledge of the discipline. To this end, we support a broad, high-quality undergraduate curriculum; attract and train excellent graduate students; attract and support faculty who excel in teaching and scholarship. A hallmark of this department is the integration of scholarship and practice; we support application of advances in Psychology to the individual and common good. Provide support for students and faculty so university and department degree program and operational objectives are met. Interact in a pleasant, supportive manner with other staff, faculty, students, and university agencies as well as general public.

About the Position:

The GMU Department of Psychology invites applications for a search for a full-time Lab Manager to work 40 hours per week on a National Institutes of Health-funded study. The study is of an intervention to reduce stress, improve parenting, and prevent risk behaviors and psychopathology in adolescents. The study involves multiple measures of parent and adolescent stress and emotions, including self-report, cortisol reactivity, and emotion-related fMRI responses. The anticipated start date for this position is June 1, 2025 and it is a 1 year position.

For the study, parents and adolescents complete questionnaire, interview, and biological assessments of stress, emotion, psychological symptoms, and substance use and a laboratory task of emotional and physiological responses to parent-adolescent interactions. Half of the parents will also complete an fMRI session. Parents are randomly assigned to a mindful parenting intervention or a parent education intervention for 8 weeks. Following the intervention, the families are returning to the lab for questionnaires, interviews, and lab/MRI measures at post-intervention.  They will then again return for questionnaires and interviews at 6 month and 1 and 2 year follow-ups.

Responsibilities:

• Schedules and tracks study families;
• Conducts behavioral study sessions with parents and youth using structured interviews and questionnaires;
• Performs data entry and management; and
• Assists PI in ordering supplies for the study and in keeping the lab organized. 

Required Qualifications:

• Bachelor's Degree in psychology, neuroscience, or a related field;
• Demonstrated experience as a research assistant;
• Previous experience working with parents, children, and/or adolescents; and
• Knowledge of conducting research studies with humans in psychology.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience as a research assistant on a study with humans, particularly youth and parents;
• Experience in screening and scheduling study sessions for research study;
• Experience with data entry and database organization; and
• Ability to train and schedule undergraduate research assistants.

Instructions to Applicants: 

For full consideration, applicants must apply for Lab Manager at https://jobs.gmu.edu/. Complete and submit the online application to include three professional references with contact information. Also, you will need to provide a Cover Letter with Resume for review.

Posting Open Date: April 4, 2025

For Full Consideration, Apply by:  April 18, 2025

Open Until Filled:  Yes