Job Location: New York, NY
Job Description
General Description
Our research team, based at Queens College-CUNY, seeks a data scientist to collaborate with a multi-disciplinary research team studying influence operations and the role of narrative in radicalization. Under direction from and in close collaboration with a social scientist PI, the data scientist will work on a variety of projects and data sources supporting the team’s ambitious computational social science research agenda related to our DoD-funded research. This is a full-time position. Remote work is possible.
We seek a candidate interested in conducting basic and applied research and development with the objective of providing new capabilities to: develop interdisciplinary methods to detect narratives in traditional media sources and in social media; to study networks of narrative content, influencers, and communities; to understand the link between keywords or key images, communities, and narratives and to help codify the ways the same content can mean different things to different parties; to help conduct experiments and survey-based data analysis related to interaction with specific types of content and susceptibility to radicalization; to develop useful measures of effectiveness of online influence campaigns beyond likes and shares; and to develop insights into mitigating the spread of hate and violence.
The successful candidate will be expected to take a leading role in developing, testing, and implementing narrative detection models related to both legacy media and social media. Current machine learning techniques often miss cultural nuance, dog whistles, and other important markers of cultural meaning. The successful candidate will develop models and techniques to scale historical archival research to big data platforms. Within the context of the influence operations, how do we predict what narratives will emerge and be weaponized? Critically, how do we use these models to understand domestic vulnerabilities to foreign influence operations? And, how do we maximally reduce the impact of foreign influence operations on and within our organizations? A key piece of this research will use computational social science techniques such as natural language processing and others to model what narratives are being deployed and weaponized but also how those key narratives have developed and changed change and which narratives seem most directly to influence a variety of online and offline behaviors.
Other Duties
The applicant will liaise with CUNY IT and the larger research team to help warehouse and arrange access to the team’s secure data resources. The applicant will be responsible for database management and version control as well as a variety of computational analytic activities, including but not limited to: topic modeling, text mining, network analysis, building of label functions and algorithms, development of new techniques for detecting narratives and evaluating their relevance and resonance, assisting in the writing of scholarly manuscripts and research and policy reports, and productively interacting with research collaborators from different backgrounds, scholarly disciplines, and institutions including the military.
Qualifications
- Background and experience in data science, computer science, computational social science, or related field. Advanced degree preferred.
- Significant data management and research experience.
- Proficiency in programming languages (Python, R, and SQL) along with modern software development practices, tools, and technologies.
- Demonstrated ability to work as a productive member of a team.
- Self-motivation and ability to take initiative.
- US Citizen
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