Category: Extracurricular Opportunity

Professor: Kylie Quave

Department: University Writing Program and Anthropology

Title: Data sharing approaches to reconstructing ancient technology

Description: The objective of the Cuzco Archaeological Ceramics Project is to
understand how the Inca state (ca. 1300-1530s CE) impacted local economies in
the heartland of the Inca empire (Cuzco, Peru). This project is a
collaboration between Peruvian and North American researchers and
specialists. Our focus is on ceramic sherds, which have been excavated in
pre-Inca (1000-1400s CE) and Inca archaeological sites in the region of
Cuzco. By studying changes in ceramic style and technology over several
centuries before and during Inca imperialism, we reconstruct how local
peoples interacted with the empire and responded to it, as well as how the
Incas used craft economies (specifically ceramics) to change labor landscapes
and alter daily lifeways.

In Phase 1, my colleagues and I identified excavated sites from which to
sample that would provide a broad cross-section of the Inca heartland in
these periods. Ceramic sherds were drawn (to compare forms and uses of
ceramic vessels) and photographed. We recorded attributes of artistic style
by photographing the sherds themselves, and recorded technological attributes
by taking digital microscope photos of the paste (the interior material) of
each sherd.  These drawings have been partially re-drawn in digital format
and all images have been organized and curated in a private database.

In Phase 2, we will migrate all the drawings, images, and associated metadata
to a public repository such as Harvard Dataverse where other researchers and
lay persons may have access to our database. From that public database, we
will create a survey in which users (both experts in ceramics and others)
will sort images and drawings to create categories of ceramics. We will seek
IRB approval before deploying this survey and will use the results of the
sorting exercise to demonstrate interobserver error among researchers and
others.

In Phase 3, for which we are currently applying for funding, we will use
archaeometric methods (geochemical provenance studies and image-based
granulometry) to differentiate technological traditions among pre-Inca and
Inca ceramics. This final phase will take at least three years and will also
include annual workshops with researchers from Cusco, in which we will
continue to share data, create protocols for future data sharing, and build
consensus about how best to continue studying Inca imperialism through
ceramic sherds.

Duties: The research assistant will be responsible for research related to
digital data management (Phases 1 and 2), data sharing (Phase 2), and some
bibliographic research (preparation for Phase 3). Using Adobe Illustrator,
the RA will complete digital drawings of ceramics rim shapes and maintain the
organization of the files. The RA will also use Harvard Dataverse or a
comparable repository to design and build a database of project files that
may be publicly shared, with metadata attached to all files. Once the
database is composed, the RA will design and construct an online survey that
includes images, using an open source platform such as Google Surveys.
Finally, the RA will conduct library-based research on granulometry and the
use of JMicrovision for analyzing ceramic technologies. They will annotate
the bibliographic citations.

The preference is for a candidate with knowledge of coding and JSON who can use
the Dataverse API: http://guides.dataverse.org/en/latest/api/native-api.html.
The RA should also be able to conduct library-based research.

I am seeking one RA for 7+ hours per week, two RAs for 4-6 hours per week, or three RAs for 1-3 hours per week.

Time commitment: 4-6 hours per week (average)

Credit hour option*: 2

Number of openings: 2

Submit Cover Letter/Resume to: kquave@gwu.edu

*If credit is sought, all registration deadlines and requirements must be
met.  Students selected to be research assistants should contact Brianna
Crayton (bcrayton@gwu.edu) whether they intend to pursue credit or not.

Professor: Sanjay Patnaik

Department: Strategic Management and Public Policy

Title: Business strategy, climate change and corporate political activities

Description: Climate change is expected to be one of the greatest challenges
for mankind in the coming century. It is therefore imperative to study
possible solutions to address this important issue, both from a public policy
and a business perspective. For my research project, we will analyze newly
introduced climate change regulations (such as the European Union and the
Californian cap-and-trade programs) to study how effective these programs
are, how they affect firm strategy and performance and how they can be
improved to achieve the best results. This research effort is a complex
project that will include work on a variety of topics related to climate
change and is therefore ideally suited for any student who wants to learn
more about this essential issue. Students will have the chance to participate
in cutting edge research in an area of study that is increasingly becoming
important all over the world.

Duties: The duties for students will involve a range of tasks, including
collecting, reformatting and preparing data, conducting background research
(i.e. literature searches, scanning newspaper articles, web searches etc.),
basic data analysis (mostly excel), (possibly) some basic statistical
analyses (which I will train students in if needed) and exploring new data
sources.  The projects will include working on company data on international
and US firms, on greenhouse gas emissions and on data from international
organizations such as the United Nations. Students will also be working with
standard databases commonly used in business and finance (e.g. Orbis,
Amadeus, etc.).

Note: There are 3 openings!

Time commitment: 7-9 hours per week (average)

Credit hour option*: 3

Submit Cover Letter/Resume to: spatnaik@gwu.edu

*If credit is sought, all registration deadlines and requirements must be
met.  Students selected to be research assistants should contact Brianna
Crayton (bcrayton@gwu.edu) whether they intend to pursue credit or not.

Professor: James Mahshie

Department: Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences

Title: Research on communication abilities of children with cochlear implants

Description: The goal of work in my lab is to better understand a range of
abilities exhibited by children with hearing loss who use cochlear implants.
The research addresses questions associated with speech production, speech
perception and literacy. Work involves obtaining speech samples from children
for analysis, along with a range of related measures that inform us about
listening experience, social economic status, residual hearing, etc.

NOTE: Dr. Mahshie will be away in the Fall semester and is looking for
someone in the Spring.

Duties: 1.      Designing and running experiments; Recruiting participants
2.      Participating in data collection
3.      Analysis of data, including transcription
4.      Maintaining lab paperwork including IRB protocols
5.      Maintaining lab equipment.

Time commitment: 4-6 hours per week (average)

Credit hour option*: 1

Submit Cover Letter/Resume to: jmahshie@gwu.edu

*If credit is sought, all registration deadlines and requirements must be
met.  Students selected to be research assistants should contact Brianna
Crayton (bcrayton@gwu.edu) whether they intend to pursue credit or not.

Professor: Daina Eglitis

Department: Sociology

Title: Women’s Experiences of World War II and the Holocaust in the East

Description: This project highlights the memory and experiences of women and
girls in World War II and the Holocaust in Eastern Europe. I am interested in
historical accounts and collective memory of women’s experiences, as well
as the lack of women actors and female agency in dominant accounts of the
past. The work also focuses on the phenomenon of gendered violence in Nazi
ghettos and camps and on liberator violence against female survivors in the
East. The specific territories of interest include the Baltic countries and
Poland.
This research is part of an article I am preparing on violence against
survivors at liberation and a book manuscript on women’s experiences and
narratives of WWII and the Holocaust in East Europe.

Duties: I seek a research assistant to contribute to a variety of tasks,
including but not limited to the following: library research on potential new
sources of information; writing summaries of published research on pertinent
subjects; searching and summarizing survivor testimonies (some of which will
need to be done on location at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum library and
some of which can be done remotely); researching background information on
specific camps and ghettos in the East; translating testimony materials (if
the student has the requisite language knowledge).
Language skills in any of the following languages are highly desirable, but
not necessary for consideration: Russian, Hebrew, Polish, German.
The indicated time commitment is 4-6 hours/week, but I am willing to consider
other options that suit the student’s schedule.

Time commitment: 4-6 hours per week (average)

Credit hour option*: 2

Number of openings: 2

Submit Cover Letter/Resume to: dainas@gwu.edu

*If credit is sought, all registration deadlines and requirements must be
met.  Students selected to be research assistants should contact Brianna
Crayton (bcrayton@gwu.edu) whether they intend to pursue credit or not.

Professor: Kerric (AKA Lisa St. Clair) Harvey

Department: School of Media and Public Affairs

Title: Drama for Social Change:  The “Whisper” Project

Description: Deepening the material already launched by my previous empirical
work adapting traditional “Drama for Conflict Transformation” for use within
a 21st century digital environment, the “Whisper Project” uses a combination
of in-person, live audience theatrical methods and online/digital/Web-based
venues to explore how the performing arts can inform and elevate public
discourse around flammable political issues and events. Specifically, the
project entails producing a purpose-built one act play for use with an
intentional audience (one which is carefully constructed of stakeholders from
different sectors of a conflict situation) and then using social media and
digital platforms generate and collect ethnographic information about the
cultural belief structures that undergird political attitude, and which are
elicited as part of the live performance experience. The play, entitled
“Whisper on a Distant Wind,” is already written, and is an especially timely
production on the eve of another presidential election cycle, as it recounts
the interactions of four modern day “Tea Party” members when they suddenly
find themselves transported back to George Washington’s 18th century Mount
Vernon plantation.  This project extends and enhances “The Interrogation
Project” work which I conducted in 2016, and which followed a similar
procedureisper.”  I successfully presented my findings from “The
Interrogation Project” at a Royal Anthropology Institute/British Museum
conference and hope to do the same thing with  “Whisper.”

Duties: Research and logisticall support during pre-production phase;
assistance with casting, venue procurement, and grant-writing if we take the
project off-campus; working with the professor to assure that all legal
aspects of a project like this are in conformance with University policy as
well as with routine best practices; identifying, securing, and accessing
appropriate and realistic digital and online platforms; helping to design the
specific data collection instruments and conflict resolution materials needed
during the post-production phase; providing technical, operational, and
creative support and outreach as needed; other duties as appropriate and
desirable.  Some assistance with costumes, props,script readings, front of
house, and similar theatrical responsibilities; also some basic video and or
audio recording work (professor will help train if needed.)

Time commitment: 7-9 hours per week (average)

Credit hour option*: 3

Number of openings: 2

Submit Cover Letter/Resume to: kharvey@gwu.edu

*If credit is sought, all registration deadlines and requirements must be
met.  Students selected to be research assistants should contact Brianna
Crayton (bcrayton@gwu.edu) whether they intend to pursue credit or not.

Professor: Imani Cheers

Department: SMPA

Title: Agricultural Apartheid: Land & Water Rights/Reform in South Africa,
Namibia and Palestine

Description: “Agricultural Apartheid is a multimedia virtual reality project
and forthcoming book focusing on
Palestinian, South African and Namibian farmers. The goal is to discuss land
and
water rights issues impacting women living in the aforementioned countries
through cutting edge technology.

Duties: 1.  Conduct and compile background research on each country both
online and at Gelman Library
2. Work at least 2 hours per week at the Library of Congress main reading
library, reviewing materials and identifying pertinent information.
3. Support professor’s schedule and maintain appointments pertaining to
research project.

Time commitment: 4-6 hours per week (average)

Credit hour option*: 2

Number of openings: 1

Submit Cover Letter/Resume to: imanimcheers@gwu.edu

*If credit is sought, all registration deadlines and requirements must be
met.  Students selected to be research assistants should contact Brianna
Crayton (bcrayton@gwu.edu) whether they intend to pursue credit or not.

Professor: Yvonne Captain

Department: RGSLL

Title: ” ‘African’ Surnames in the Americas”

Description: The project concerns research on families with last names that
date from trans-Atlantic slavery and carry on until the present day in both
the United States and in Latin America.  Family Names like Senegal, Congo,
Africano, and Angola are far more common than most people assume.  Through
personal interviews, data collection in various sources, information on the
families is garnered.  A series of questions are communicated, typically in
person, to each of the interviewees in order to see what the Brazilian,
Colombian, and U.S. families have in common as we draw conclusions related to
the African Diaspora.

Duties: The 1st student will input raw data as it already exists into the
database, and if there is time, will help the professor with research that
contributes to further data.  Student will also help maintain contact with
the professor’s  co-investigator colleagues in Brazil and Colombia.
The 2nd student will aid in analyzing Excel queries that are already set up
by the professor and that will be further enhanced by student #1.  Some
knowledge of databases beyond beginning status-or the willingness to
learn is best for student #2
While no knowledge of the Spanish or Portuguese languages is necessary, it
does not hurt!
If either student prefers to work on a non-credit basis, we can consult with
the Honors Program to see what the best option is.

Time commitment: 7-9 hours per week (average)

Credit hour option*: 3

Submit Cover Letter/Resume to: ycaptain@gwu.edu

*If credit is sought, all registration deadlines and requirements must be
met.  Students selected to be research assistants should contact Brianna
Crayton (bcrayton@gwu.edu) whether they intend to pursue credit or not.

Professor: Chris Warshaw

Department: Political Science

Title: The Ideological Positions of Democratic and Republican State Party
Platforms in the United States

Description: In this project, I am working with a team of researchers to code
the ideological positions of Democratic and Republican state parties in all
fifty states over the past 50 years using 1,800 individual party platforms
from 1960-2016.  These platforms include the state parties’ positions on
dozens of policy issues, including gay rights, abortion, climate change, gun
controls, and many more.  This project will shed new light on the historical
development of party positions.  It will also speak to debates about
polarization and representation (i.e., the links between public opinion and
political parties).

Duties: The research assistant(s) will read Democratic and Republican state
party platforms to help me code the issue positions of Democratic and
Republican state parties in the United States over the past 50 years. They
will code each state party’s position on issues like gun control, abortion,
climate change, taxes, women’s rights, and many more. This project will give
research assistant(s) the opportunity to learn more about the development of
the American party system. It also give them the opportunity to learn more
about dozens of policy issues, and the positions of political parties on
these issues.

Time commitment: 7-9 hours per week (average)

Credit hour option*: 3

Number of openings: 4

Submit Cover Letter/Resume to: warshaw@gwu.edu

*If credit is sought, all registration deadlines and requirements must be
met.  Students selected to be research assistants should contact Brianna
Crayton (bcrayton@gwu.edu) whether they intend to pursue credit or not.

Professor: Harris Mylonas

Department: Political Science

Title: Greek and Cypriot Political Developments

Description: Conduct background research for the report on Greece that I contribute annually to the European Journal of Political Research.

Duties: Summarize events, find reliable sources to cite, edit text.

Time commitment: 1-3 hours per week (average)

Credit hour option*: 1

Number of openings: 2

Submit Cover Letter/Resume to: mylonas@gwu.edu

*If credit is sought, all registration deadlines and requirements must be
met.  Students selected to be research assistants should contact Brianna
Crayton (bcrayton@gwu.edu) whether they intend to pursue credit or not.

Professor: Janet Lewis

Department: Political Science

Title: Rebel Group Formation in Sub-Saharan Africa

Description: How does armed rebellion start? Answering this question is
critical to understanding how the costly, more violent stages of conflict may
be averted. However, existing evidence about the earliest phases is highly
incomplete, especially for weak states in Sub-Saharan Africa. Rebel groups
that fail early, before committing substantial violence, are usually omitted
since they end before gaining substantial attention in news media. This
project aims to advance knowledge about rebel group formation by building a
dataset of nearly all rebel groups that formed, even minimally so, in
Sub-Saharan Africa since the late 1990s.

Duties: The Research Assistant(s) will work under the supervision of the PI
to build the dataset. This will involve digging for tough-to-find
information, careful reading and analyzing African and international news
sources (mostly newspapers), as well as occasionally identifying and speaking
(via Skype) with African scholars and journalists. The RA will learn a great
deal about political violence, Africa, and the craft of thinking carefully
about how best to analyze complex political issues in remote contexts.

Desired Skills and Qualifications:
•       Outstanding research, verbal communication and writing skills
•       Detail-oriented and able to work independently
•       Ability to read and speak in French is desirable (not required)
•       Prior experience living/studying/working in Africa is desirable (not
required)
•       Experience building and using quantitative datasets is desirable (not
required)

Please note: there are two openings for this role!

Time commitment: 10 or more hours per week (average)

Credit hour option*: 3

Submit Cover Letter/Resume to: janetilewis@gwu.edu

*If credit is sought, all registration deadlines and requirements must be
met.  Students selected to be research assistants should contact Brianna Crayton at bcrayton@gwu.edu whether they intend to pursue credit or not.