The Ecology and Evolution Unit at Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University is looking for a lecturer to assist with teaching of a graduate-level introductory biology course while the regular instructor is abroad. This is an exciting opportunity for anyone who wants to extend his or her teaching experience with state-of-the-art technology, while working in an international, intellectually stimulating environment, and enjoying a summer on a subtropical Pacific island.
This course introduces fundamentals of biological science, particularly genetics and genomics, to a diverse body of students, primarily from the physical sciences and engineering. It relies on a combination of computational approaches to introduce fundamental biological processes and laboratory experiments that emphasize critical thinking and problem solving. As a result, this course also attracts biology students interested in becoming proficient with programming bioinformatics, or with next-generation sequencing technology.
Working jointly with the regular instructor, the lecturer will be responsible for adding or modifying course content, and for organizing the course into a largely online format, as well as teaching labs and tutorials. In addition, a previously developed teaching module that constitutes part of this course, should be prepared for peer-reviewed publication (https://peerj.com/preprints/1356/) by creating learning assessments in exchange for authorship.
Requirements
- The ability to deliver lectures in English.
- Experience with Python, R, and Linux; experience with Jupyter notebooks a plus.
- Previous graduate-level work in bioinformatic data analysis.
- Hands-on experience in the molecular lab.
- The ability to travel to Okinawa in May.
Details
- 6 contact hours per week.
- Salary: ¥2,000,000 (~$18,000). Transportation costs and housing will be provided for the successful candidate.
- Course dates: May 8 - August 18, 2017.
- OIST will help with obtaining a working visa, if necessary.
- Application deadline: March 5, 2017, with Skype interviews to be held during the following week.
Applicants should include a cover letter that outlines motivations and previous teaching experience, as well as evidence of proficiency in programming/bioinformatics/lab work. A CV with references is also required.
Send applications, and questions to Alexander Mikheyev (alexander dot mikheyev at oist.jp)
Just wanted to comment- I had the opportunity to visit OIST a few years ago. I think things were still getting started at that point, but it's a very impressive facility with a surprising array of resources on-site (which is important, since it's on a tropical island), including a large compute cluster.
Thanks for the kind words @Adamc! Our cluster is indeed quite good. We've been narrowly pushed out of the top500, but the university still only has just over 60 labs.