Postdoctoral Fellow

Posting Summary:

The program in Education Leadership in the Department of Organization and Leadership invites applicants for a Postdoctoral Researcher to join Professor Alex J. Bowers’ Education Leadership Data Analytics (ELDA) Research group at Teachers College, Columbia University.

Job Summary/Basic Function:

We seek a highly motivated candidate with a strong background in education data science, education leadership, and/or improvement science. The Postdoctoral fellow will provide research assistance and expertise in an externally funded research project to apply data science visualization and descriptive statistics to describe a range of K-12 education indicators linked to student outcomes in select urban school districts in the US. The research project includes accessing and managing a wide range of public datasets and applying current research methods using big data and data science, visual data analytics techniques, and comparative quantitative analysis. Successful candidates may assist in a variety of roles that may include: designing research studies; collecting, cleaning, analyzing and visualizing data using research data management, data science and statistics; editing and writing research reports; identifying and managing a large range of public datasets; project management; interfacing with multiple research groups across the college and nationally; code and database analysis and repository management; and/or assisting in event management and planning for planned gatherings of data scientists and school district data strategists.

More about the ELDA research group: http://www.tc.columbia.edu/elda/

The position is for the 2025-2026 academic year. The appointment ends August 31, 2026. The position is in-person in New York City.

Characteristic Duties And Responsibilities:

• Designing research studies
• Collecting, cleaning, analyzing and visualizing data
• Data science and statistics
• Editing and writing research reports
• Identifying and managing a large range of public datasets
• Project management
• Interfacing with multiple research groups across the college and nationally
• Code and database analysis and repository management
• Assisting in event management and planning for planned gatherings of data scientists and school district data strategists.

Minimum Qualifications:

• Completed Ph.D. or Ed.D. in a related field.
• A strong and demonstrated interest in one or more of the following education research domains:a) Education data science, data visualization, or statistics. b) The application of data science and visual data analytics to schooling issues.c) Issues of fairness in K-12 schooling systems.d) Education leadership, administration, management, or policy.

Preferred Qualifications:

• A doctoral degree in education data science, education leadership, improvement science, organizational data analytics, or a closely related field is required. Candidates should have a strong foundation in data science methods in open-access coding environments, such as R, with a research background in studying how organizations and management use decision support systems and data analytics to inform decision-making.
• Strong research, database, document, and internet search and library search skills.
• Excellent written and verbal skills.
• Demonstrated editing skills.
• Strong organizational skills, a strong work ethic, and an ability to work independently.
• Demonstrated experience and familiarity with United States K-12 schooling.
• Experience with quantitative research methods.
• Experience with qualitative research methods.
• Demonstrated coding experience on GitHub.
• Demonstrated experience coding in the R statistical programming language and R Studio preferred.

Additional application materials:
Please include a cover letter, curriculum vitae, and 3 letters of recommendation. Please also upload 1) a PDF of the applicant’s final approved and accepted dissertation as well as 2) an additional individual writing example from a research project, preferably including quantitative data visualization(s) and/or statistical analyses.

Salary Range:

$64,000 - $75,000

Work Modality:

Onsite

Competitive Compensation and Benefits 

The salary range reflects the College’s good faith and reasonable estimate of the compensation for the position at the time of the job posting.  Salary decisions are dependent on several factors including but not limited to market and organizational considerations, experience, and qualifications of a selected candidate as well as internal and external equity.

Our benefits contribute significantly to the total compensation package that includes medical, dental, vision, and supplemental insurance plans; flexible and hybrid work schedules; tuition remission; life insurance; short and long-term disability insurance; an exceptional employer retirement matching program; health savings accounts (HSA), flexible spending accounts (FSA), Public Service Loan Forgiveness eligibility, and a robust Employee Assistance Program (EAP).