Part Time Research Assistant Data Scientist and Engineer

American University is a student-centered research institution located in Washington, DC, with highly-ranked schools and colleges, internationally-renowned faculty, and a reputation for creating meaningful change in the world. Learn more about American University Department: Kogod School of Business Time Type: Part time Job Type: Temporary (Fixed Term) FLSA Status: Non-Exempt Work Modality: Union: Excluded Job Description: Summary: This part-time research assistant position will hold the functional title, Research Data Scientist and Engineer.

The Research Data Scientist and Engineer position supports the design, development, and analytical infrastructure of the CRPD Disability Rights Dashboard ( https://idpp-crpd-dashboard.share.connect.posit.cloud ) which is a first-of-its-kind NLP- and AI-powered platform that makes the full UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) reporting cycle searchable, visual, and actionable.

With support from the National Science Foundation (NSF) through the American University Translating Research into Action Center (TRAC), the dashboard will scale to include data and analyses for all nine-core human rights treaties and implementation/monitoring communities. This position integrates data science, software engineering, and applied research, contributing to the analytical methods that generate insight from UN treaty body documents and the technical systems that deliver those insights to users.

Responsibilities include developing and refining NLP and text analysis pipelines, designing and computing indicators and metrics from structured and unstructured data, building and maintaining the Streamlit-based dashboard and its supporting codebase, collaborating on AI-assisted research features, managing deployment and infrastructure on Posit Connect Cloud, contributing to the platform's evolution toward a comprehensive Advocacy Toolkit, and supporting user testing, documentation, and research dissemination activities.

The position reports to the Principal Investigator, Dr. Derrick Cogburn, and works at the intersection of disability rights research, data science, and software development. The position will be based in the American University Institute on Disability and Public Policy ( https://www.idppglobal.org ). IDPP is a multidisciplinary, cross-campus research center that creates and disseminates knowledge that enables all persons to participate effectively in society, locally, nationally, and globally.

IDPP uses supervised and unsupervised machine learning, deep learning, text analysis, natural language processing (NLP), and large language models (LLMs) to evaluate progress on disability rights globally and specifically on implementing the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities ( CRPD ) and the Sustainable Development Goals ( SDGs ). IDPP also explores the role of accessible information and communication technologies (ICTs) and digital technologies, including telepresence robots and mobile apps, to accelerate full participation in society for persons with disabilities.

IDPP was the lead organization for the AU 2030 Strategic Initiative on Global Disability and Development and worked in conjunction with several other campus organizations to lead the Strategic Research Initiative on Inclusive Technology and Policy (ITP). IDPP was founded in 2009 through the generous support of The Nippon Foundation and was initially focused on Southeast Asia. IDPP works in partnership with the World Bank’s Disability Data Hub ( https://disabilitydata.worldbank.org/en/home ) and the Disability Data Initiative ( https://www.disabilitydatainitiative.org/ ) led by Fordham University.

Both initiatives providing quantitative disability data for the Disability Rights Dashboard. Essential Functions: 1.) Computational Research and Data Science/Analytics Design, develop, and refine NLP and text analysis pipelines for processing UN treaty body documents, State Party reports, Committee co