Postdoctoral Scholar - Public Health Sciences

APPLICATION INSTRUCTIONS:

• CURRENT PENN STATE EMPLOYEE (faculty, staff, technical service, or student), please login to Workday to complete the internal application process. Please do not apply here, apply internally through Workday.

• CURRENT PENN STATE STUDENT (not employed previously at the university) and seeking employment with Penn State, please login to Workday to complete the student application process. Please do not apply here, apply internally through Workday.

• If you are NOT a current employee or student, please click “Apply” and complete the application process for external applicants.

Approval of remote and hybrid work is not guaranteed regardless of work location. For additional information on remote work at Penn State, see Notice to Out of State Applicants.

This is a term position; length of the term will be discussed during the interview process. Continuation past the term length discussed will be based on university need, performance, and/or availability of funding.

POSITION SPECIFICS

Postdoctoral Scholar in Biostatistics: Novel Adaptive Clinical Trial Design Methodology

The Department of Public Health Sciences, Division of Biostatistics and Bioinformatics, at Penn State College of Medicine in Hershey, PA invites applications for a Postdoctoral Scholar position in biostatistics, statistics, or a closely related quantitative field. The position will focus on the development of next-generation statistical methods and software for adaptive clinical trial designs, with an emphasis on early-phase oncology trials.

The Postdoctoral Scholar will work under the mentorship of Dr. Shouhao Zhou at Penn State University, in collaboration with Dr. J. Jack Lee at MD Anderson Cancer Center and other clinical and methodological collaborators. The position provides an excellent opportunity for a highly motivated researcher to develop a strong independent research profile at the interface of Bayesian statistics, clinical trial design, optimization, computational statistics, and/or translational cancer research.

The successful candidate will contribute to methodological innovation, computational implementation, simulation studies, software development, manuscript preparation, and grant-related research activities. The work will support ongoing and planned projects on Bayesian adaptive designs, globally optimal dose-finding and phase I/II designs, pediatric and adult oncology trials, and efficient optimization algorithms for complex trial design spaces.

Required qualifications:

A PhD or equivalent doctoral degree in biostatistics, statistics, applied mathematics, operations research, computer science, engineering, or a closely related quantitative field.

Strong programming skills in at least one major scientific computing language such as R, Python, C++, or a similar language.

Ability to conduct independent research, communicate clearly, and work effectively in a multidisciplinary research environment.

Strong written communication skills and interest in publishing methodological and collaborative research.

Preferred qualifications:

Strong methodological training in statistical inference, computational statistics, reinforcement learning, or optimization.

Experience with Bayesian statistics, adaptive clinical trial design, dose-finding methods, phase I/II trial designs, model-assisted or model-based trial designs, or oncology clinical trials.

Prior publications or preprints in biostatistics, statistics, clinical trials, machine learning, optimization, or related methodological areas.

Learning and applying deep learning, agentic AI, and other AI methods in assisting research is encouraged.

Research environment and career development:

The Postdoctoral Scholar will join an active and growing biostatistics research environment at Penn State University College of Medicine, with opportunities to collaborate across Penn State, MD Anderson Cancer Center, and multidisciplinary cancer research teams. The position is designed to support the candidate’s development as an independent methodological researcher through high-impact publications, software dissemination, conference presentations, grant involvement, and collaborative clinical trial design experience.

Application materials:

Applicants should submit a curriculum vitae, a brief statement of research interests, contact information for three references, and representative publications or writing samples if available. Review of applications will begin immediately and continue until the position is filled.

BACKGROUND CHECKS/CLEARANCES

Employment with the University will require successful completion of background check(s) in accordance with University policies.

BENEFITS

Penn State provides a competitive benefits package for full-time employees designed to support both personal and professional well-being.

For more detailed information, please visit our Benefits Page. (Note: For Postdoctoral benefits, please see our Postdoctoral Benefits page.)

CAMPUS SECURITY CRIME STATISTICS

Pursuant to the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act and the Pennsylvania Act of 1988, Penn State publishes a combined Annual Security and Annual Fire Safety Report (ASR). The ASR includes crime statistics and institutional policies concerning campus security, such as those concerning alcohol and drug use, crime prevention, the reporting of crimes, sexual assault, and other matters. The ASR is available for review here.

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