Outreach Director & Senior Project Manager

Outreach Director & Senior Project Manager

A variety of soft skills and experience may be required for the following role Please ensure you check the overview below carefully.

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Department

SSD Social Sciences Research Center (SSRC) - Staff and Temporary Employees

About the Department

The position will be housed under the Knowledge Lab but will exclusively manage the programs for the APTO - NSF project. The role will report to James Evans, but they will also have responsibility for the other Co-PIs on the project.

Job Summary

The job leads the administration of academic, research, clinical or administrative programs. The Senior Project Manager and Outreach Director will be the lead administrator supporting the broader impacts and outreach associated with the collaborative NSF-funded research project Global Observatory and Virtual Laboratory for Science & Technology Advance.

This role will manage the broader activities and outcomes of this project, tracking progress, building reports, and keeping leadership apprised of setbacks or other concerns.

This role will be the key coordinator and contact for project activities including the robust outreach programs for under-represented STEM students.

They will create and manage a communication strategy for public-facing outreach, and an internal communication strategy for the collaborators of the project.

They will also build relationships with community partners and educational organizations who will be critical to outreach program success.

The role will be an integral part of the success of this project, and will lead outreach-related goal setting, implementation, and other strategic efforts to build and report on the project’s public-facing impacts.

The project will create an artificial intelligence (AI) and data-driven global observatory and virtual laboratory for U.S.

science and technology advancement, involving the production of data sets and technology outcome models that explore global technologies and account for the complex and emergent interdependencies between the technologies themselves, the funders, resources, researchers, and universities that catalyze and invent them, the workforces and organizations that produce them, and the markets that consume them.

Drawing upon the power of the deep neural network architectures that underlie contemporary large language models (LLMs), the project team, led by the University of Chicago’s James Evans, will build these first-of-their-kind deep-learned, chronologically-trained, context-sensitive LLMs.

The LLMs will map funded proposals, articles, patents, products, related news, and their rich meta-data to quantitative metrics of technology capability, production, and use.

Both a global observatory and a virtual laboratory for U.S. science and technology advancement, the project’s research findings will inform models of global science and technology capability and identify the impact of policy levers on global technology leadership.

Impacts of the work will reach funding agencies, policy makers, and researchers, improving the quality and diversification of their technology development portfolios.

The project team and partners will also engage underrepresented STEM students to build understanding of critical technologies and widen the accessibility of AI technology among students.

This position will report to the PI, James Evans.

Responsibilities

• Oversees entire program communication with internal and external stakeholders.
• Plans, coordinates, arranges, leads and reports on meetings and workshops with key stakeholders.
• Tracks progress, conducts analyses, as well as prepares for and facilitates project meetings.
• Leads goal-planning, setting, and implementation across teams, ensuring individual and team alignment with organizational priorities.
• Develops detailed work plans, schedules, project estimates, resource plans, and status reports.
• Coordinates reporting of project documentation and deliverables.
• Ensures project deliverables are completed according to both internal and stakeholder timelines, and notifies project leadership when project timelines are at risk, and works with team members to ensure successful project completion.
• Uses in-depth knowledge and experience to administer the delivery of services to program participants and / or beneficiaries such as communicating with program sponsors and academic advising for undergraduate students.
• Develops and communicates program priorities and performance standards and assesses operations using these criteria. Plans and conducts quality assurance reviews and recommends changes as appropriate.
• Acts as a resource for a project team and provides analytical guidance. Interprets complex project issues and provides analytical guidance to a project team.
• Assist with hiring and onboarding new members of the team and incorporating them into the project infrastructure.
• Assists with other administrative tasks as needed.
• Develop and directly lead implementation of the community outreach programs across site locations with little to no oversight.
• Build partnerships with the Summer Institute in Computational Social Science (SICSS), Chicago Public Schools, The University of Chicago College Readiness, and other internal and community organizations to create pilot programs to expand participation in science and technology and integrate research with education aims.
• Facilitate collaboration and knowledge transfer between researchers and policymakers, working with the University of Illinois - Chicago Electronic Visualization Lab who will create dashboards and broaden impacts of this research.
• Build an annual workshop and set of events in coordination with the School of the Art Institute (SAIC) on topics dealing with AI, with an aim to make AI less scary.

This partnership will help build public engagement with the project.

• Track success of these outreach programs, gathering data about the participants and share outcomes with the project leadership.
• Creates and monitors communication strategy for internal and external stakeholders.
• Plans, develops and disseminates information designed to keep the public informed.
• Responsible for managing the public-facing communication on websites and social media.
• Establishes and nurtures relationships with key partners in governments, non-profits, foundations, multilateral aid agencies, and the private sector, fostering collaborative initiatives and education programs.
• Collaborate with the PI and Co-PIs to advance multi-year partnerships and strategic collaborations aligned with project priorities.
• Provides logistical and administrative support to ensure successful implementation of programs and events.
• Provides specialized professional expertise in program management. Implements plans for educational programs and initiatives and acts as a liaison between the program and program participants.
• Plans and develops program objectives and / or content. Researches and identifies trends and needs and establishes program directions accordingly.
• Performs other related work as needed.

Minimum Qualifications

Education : Minimum requirements include a college or university degree in related field.

Work Experience : Minimum requirements include knowledge and skills developed through 7+ years of work experience in a related job discipline.

Preferred Qualifications

Education :

Master’s Degree in science or technology or computational social sciences.

Experience :

• At least 7 years experience building outreach programs for STEM and community building.
• Extensive experience facilitating technical discussions, as well as the ability to synthesize, summarize and generate insight from large amounts of complex data and information.
• Experience working in non-profit or university research organization.
• Experience working and communicating effectively with stakeholders from various backgrounds and specializations.
• Demonstrated record of success in developing and maintaining strong working relationships with faculty, staff, administrators and other internal and external partners.
• Demonstrated record of managing large, complex initiatives with high-impact results.
• Ability to prioritize multiple projects and independently follow through with detail on general, and sometimes ambiguous, instructions for projects.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills are crucial for developing relationships within the University and with external stakeholders.

Technical Skills or Knowledge :

• Experience in building outreach for STEM education and community partnerships, with experience working in Chicago neighbors.
• Experience in managing outreach programs within National Science Foundation projects.
• Experience building art and science outreach programs for sponsored projects.

Preferred Competencies

• Capacity for creative, proactive thinking and administrative innovation to maximize project outcomes.
• Ability to facilitate group decision-making processes and foster an environment of healthy team idea exchange and collaboration.
• Ability to facilitate technical discussions, as well as the ability to synthesize, summarize and generate insight from large amounts of complex information.
• Strong background in stakeholder engagement, including collaboration with government entities, non-profits, foundations, multilateral aid agencies, and the private sector.

Working Conditions

• Eligible for hybrid work.
• This at-will position is wholly funded by contractual grant funding, which is renewed under provisions set by the grantor of the contract (NSF).

Employment will be contingent upon the continued receipt of these grant funds and satisfactory job performance.

Application Documents

• Resume (required)
• Cover letter (required)

When applying, the document(s) MUST be uploaded via the My Experience page, in the section titled Application Documents of the application.

Job Family

Administration & Management

Role Impact

Individual Contributor

FLSA Status

Exempt

Pay Frequency

Monthly

Scheduled Weekly Hours

37.5

Benefits Eligible

Drug Test Required

Health Screen Required

Motor Vehicle Record Inquiry Required

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