The PLUS - Personalized Learning Squared project, run by the Human-Computer Interaction Institute at Carnegie Mellon University aims to double the rate of math learning in middle school students, particularly those who have been historically underserved. This project is operated in collaboration with Carnegie Learning and Stanford University and is led by Principal Investigator Prof. Ken Koedinger and Research Lead Dr. Danielle Thomas. PLUS features a hybrid tutoring platform that combines human and AI tutoring to deliver personalized learning for each student. 

The National Tutoring Observatory, is a research infrastructure led by Prof. Rene Kizilcec at Cornell University, along with researchers from Carnegie Mellon University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and educational strategy company FreshCognate. The mission of the National Tutoring Observatory is to observe and record great teachers and tutors at work in one-on-one and small group interactions with learners. By partnering with a range of tutoring providers, we will create the world's largest repository of video and transcript data about tutoring interactions and the incredibly important work of teachers. The Observatory aspires to create a Million Tutor Moves dataset that records at least one million interactions between teachers and students. These new data will advance the science of instruction, provide important data for technologists developing AI tools, and allow the Observatory to create a pipeline for the creation of open-source AI tools. 

About The Role:

We are looking for a postdoctoral fellow who will contribute to original research to improve student learning outcomes through improved tutoring for the PLUS project and the NTO. This fellow would be advised by Prof. Ken Koedinger and Dr. Danielle Thomas at Carnegie Mellon, while closely collaborating with Rene Kizilcec and Co-PIs of The National Tutoring Observatory..This includes work on improving tutor training, improving tutor-student matching, and developing AI-assisted support tools for tutors. This is an excellent opportunity for a technology-oriented postdoc researcher to make an impact on an exciting and fast-scaling project in the areas of educational data science, learning science, and education technology.

The ideal candidate will demonstrate strong problem-solving skills and apply interesting research methods and procedures to answering the following example research  questions: 

• What are the key drivers of effective teaching and tutoring, and how do they vary across different tutoring modalities, implementations, and student demographics? 

• How can we best measure and isolate the tutoring actions and behaviors that correlate with, and ultimately predict, gains in student learning and engagement?

• How can AI-driven tutoring tools be used to improve human tutor training and professional development? 

• How can AI-driven tutoring tools be used to improve the learning experiences and outcomes for students?     

The ideal candidate will also possess strong quantitative analysis skills, and your responsibilities will include:

• Collaborative problem-solving toward innovation in tutoring with different stakeholders

• Design and implement evaluations of innovative programs 

• Data analyses and modeling using Python/R/or similar programming languages

• Co-author research papers on the results of student learning modeling and studies

• Attend required meetings and participate in various seminars and training workshops to maintain or update skills

What We Offer:

• Competitive salary and benefits package including an automatic 8% monthly contribution to a retirement plan 

• Professional development opportunities including tuition benefits at CMU for you and your dependents

• Comprehensive health insurance and generous PTO

• Chance to work with the world’s foremost learning science researchers

• A fun, high-octane team that will work with you every step of the way

Salary: $60,000-$75,000

What You Bring:

• Ph.D. in Cognitive Science, Learning Science, Computer Science, Information Systems, or related fields

• A record of publications in Cognitive Science, Learning Science, AI in Education, and/or Educational Data Mining (conferences such as AIED, LAK, EDM, etc.)

• Collaborative problem-solving skills to work effectively with state assessment professionals toward innovation in assessment

• Experience working with discourse analyses, such as audio transcription analysis and multimodal data analysis 

• Data analysis skills with R/Python/or similar programming languages

• Experience in public education is a plus

Applications should include a cover letter describing qualifications and expressing interest, a CV and contact information for 2 references and a published paper (optional). Please direct questions and interest in the position to Danielle Thomas: drthomas@cmu.edu.

Carnegie Mellon University is an equal opportunity employer. It does not discriminate in admission, employment, or administration of its programs or activities on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, disability, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, pregnancy or related condition, family status, marital status, parental status, religion, ancestry, veteran status, or genetic information. Furthermore, Carnegie Mellon University does not discriminate and is required not to discriminate in violation of federal, state, or local laws or executive orders.

About Carnegie Mellon University

Carnegie Mellon (www.cmu.edu) is a private, internationally ranked research university with programs in areas ranging from science, technology and business, to public policy, the humanities and the arts. More than 12,000 students in the university’s seven schools and colleges benefit from a small student-to-faculty ratio and an education characterized by its focus on creating and implementing solutions for real problems, interdisciplinary collaboration and innovation. A global university, Carnegie Mellon’s main campus in the United States is in Pittsburgh, Pa. It has campuses in California’s Silicon Valley and Qatar, and programs in Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe and Mexico.

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