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Apply for Spring 2019 Student Positions

The Center for Spatial Research is seeking student assistants for the Spring and Summer 2019 terms. 

We are seeking candidates to assist with several ongoing projects related to the current research theme, “Conflict Urbanism.” 

Spring semester positions are a maximum of 10 hours per week, and summer term positions are a maximum of 20 hours per week. All positions will be compensated according to University standards. Current and continuing Columbia University students are eligible to apply. 

Specific projects and possible roles are outlined below. 

Please send a letter of interest that indicates which project you hope to work on, CV, and relevant work examples to [email protected] with the subject ‘Spring 2019 Student Assistant Application.’   

For an upcoming project related to the concept of Homophily, the Center is seeking 1-2 students to assist in the development of visualizations, exhibition, and publications that draw from archival materials as well as current datasets. 

Students working on this project will be asked to perform one or more of the following: 

  • Mining archives, learning about, and reporting on historical research 
  • Tracing the proliferation of homophily in academic and popular literature from a concept used in urban sociology to a pervasive term underlying network and computer science using web of science data 
  • Cleaning and analyzing public datasets related to predictive algorithms used in policing 
  • Producing in progress/preliminary maps, visualizations, and other visual assets 

In your letter of interest please indicate what parts of this project you would like to work on, and the relevant skills and experiences you have.   

For an upcoming project related to personal uses for census data, the Center is seeking 1-2 students to assist in the research and development of a series of interactive visualizations as well as a mobile application. Students will be asked to do one or more of the following: 

  • Acquire, clean, and prepare public demographic data 
  • Perform basic analytics 
  • Plan and develop a mobile application 
  • Experiment with different visualizations and participate in a iterative design process to develop new public data interfaces. 

In your letter of interest please indicate what parts of this project you would like to work on, and the relevant skills and experiences you have.   

For an upcoming project related to sensor networks and decentralized protocols, the Center is seeking 1-2 students to assist with research and/or programming. Students working on this project will be asked to perform one or more of the following: 

  • Survey current tools, technologies, and formats used in epidemiology, sociology, agriculture, ecology, and climate science for sensor-based data collection (mobile phone included) 
  • Research emerging decentralized protocols (such as DAT and IPFS) 
  • Develop software for mobile devices using Javascript, C++, and Swift 
  • Develop server-side software in Javascript/Node and Python 

In your letter of interest please indicate what parts of this project you would like to work on, and the relevant skills and experiences you have.   

The Center is seeking one student to assist with several projects related to publication and dissemination of CSR research work. This role will include assisting with tasks related to the production of a forthcoming book edited by CSR as directing ongoing digital publication projects and social media. The student will be asked to: 

  • Correspond with authors 
  • Assist in compiling edited material 
  • Collect visual materials from CSR researchers for publication on social media 
  • Design monthly newsletter 
  • Maintain website content 

In your letter of interest please indicate the skills and experiences you have that are relevant to this role.