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Minnesota Department of Health

Macalester-Howard Hughes Medical Institute Data Scientist Position at the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) Injury and Violence Prevention Unit (IVPU)

The mission of the IVPU is to strengthen Minnesota’s communities in injury and violence prevention. The Unit:

  • Collects and interprets data on injury and violence
  • Develops and evaluates prevention programs and policies
  • Provides tools, technical assistance, and information to others

The undergraduate student will learn about methods of public health surveillance and epidemiologic investigations and studies, and how principles of computation and data management operate in a public health setting. The student will participate in public health research, performing statistical analysis using quantitative research software. There may be opportunities for interaction with key stakeholders, including policy makers, along with networking opportunities.

Eligibility Requirements

  • Demonstrated interest in epidemiology, statistics, and public health
  • MUST have completed a course in introductory statistics
  • Some experience with a statistical software package (e.g., SAS, SPSS, R, STATA)
  • Basic understanding of research methods
  • Sophomore or Junior status
  • Must be available to start after spring semester finals are complete, would strongly prefer a start in April, limited to 5 or 10 hours a week, for orientation

Preferred
Experience/coursework in quantitative research methods

Compensation
A stipend of $4000 for 10 weeks of fulltime summer work (40 hrs/week) will be provided through the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Science Education Award to Macalester College.  Depending on the number of hours of orientation and the availability of funds, an additional stipend may be awarded.• Bus card to cover cost of transportation from Macalester to MDH will be provided

Start Date
Preferred start date in April for orientation

Location
Golden Rule Building 85 East 7th Place in downtown St Paul

Application Process
Upload cover letter, resume, transcript and the names of two faculty references to the MHRI Application site. This site will be available on January 4, 2017.  The cover letter should include a discussion of the applicant’s expertise and reason for interest in the position. 

Selection Process
A committee of faculty members will screen the applicants with a final selection being made IVPU personnel.  For more information contact  or .