[rohrpost] Postdoctoral Fellow in Infrastructure Studies

[Geert Lovink]

Postdoctoral Fellow in Infrastructure Studies

The University of Michigan announces an eleven-month postdoctoral  
fellowship position. The position will start September 1, 2013.

Salary: $50-60,000 per year (depending on negotiated duties), plus a  
competitive benefits package, $5,000 in discretionary funding, and the  
opportunity to appoint and supervise one or more paid undergraduate  
research assistants to work on projects of your choice.

To apply:

Candidates should submit the following materials electronically to  
Prof. Christian Sandvig at <infra-postdoc at umich.edu>

Email <infra-postdoc at umich.edu> one PDF file which includes:

1.       A statement of interest describing your relevant background  
and skills

2.       A current curriculum vitae

3.       The name and contact information for three references. (One  
reference should be your doctoral advisor.) Letters of recommendation  
will only be solicited from finalists.

4.       Two publications or other writing samples

Review of applications will begin immediately and continue until the  
position is filled.

Position Description

The Department of Communication Studies (in the College of Literature,  
Science, and the Arts) and the School of Information are jointly  
offering a postdoctoral fellow position in the multidisciplinary area  
of “infrastructure studies.”

The addition of information technology is transforming the way society  
provides important infrastructures, including those that support  
media, telecommunications, power, and transport, but also those that  
support  knowledge, culture, and scientific data. Thanks to new  
capabilities in computing and control, every year our infrastructures  
claim to be “smarter,” with new capacities for distributed processing,  
analysis, sensing, adapting, and autonomous self-improvement. This  
radical transformation is well underway, but the assessment of its  
consequences is still in its infancy. For example, infrastructure  
unevenly distributes benefits and capabilities, with complex and  
sometimes unforeseen implications for politics, economics, knowledge,  
and social justice (to name just a few domains). This position will  
fund a researcher who will have the opportunity to work alongside  
senior collaborators to define and shape this new area of scholarship.

Qualifications:

The successful applicant will have completed the Ph.D. in a related  
area by the start date with a dissertation related to information and/ 
or media infrastructures, broadly defined. The ideal candidate may be  
trained in science & technology studies, information science, media  
theory, computer-supported collaborative work, and/or human-computer  
interaction. Applicants should have some familiarity with qualitative  
research methods. Applicants who also have some technical background  
related to the infrastructure(s) they study are of particular  
interest, but this is not required.

This position is jointly sponsored by two academic units located on  
adjacent floors of the same building. The postdoctoral fellow will  
have office space in the Department of Communication Studies and may  
have the opportunity to teach one course in the School of Information  
(to be negotiated). The postdoctoral fellow will pursue his or her own  
independent research agenda, but will also be expected to collaborate  
with the faculty on the convening committee (listed below).

The postdoctoral fellow will be an equal member of the research group.  
S/he will be expected not only to conduct independent research, but  
also to collaborate actively in joint research projects with faculty,  
graduate students, and undergraduate research assistants. This  
responsibility includes regular communication and coordination with  
the project team. The postdoc will also be expected to contribute  
substantially to publications related to “infrastructure studies,”  
acting as first author on some and as a secondary author on others.

Convening committee:

Prof. Christian Sandvig (chair) <csandvig at umich.edu>
Prof. Carl Lagoze <clagoze at umich.edu>
Prof. Paul N. Edwards <pne at umich.edu>

Please feel free to contact any member of the convening committee with  
questions about this position. As mentioned above, please send  
application materials to the search committee <infra- 
postdoc at umich.edu> and not to individual committee members.

Non-Discrimination Policy Notice

The University of Michigan, as an equal opportunity/affirmative action  
employer, complies with all applicable federal and state laws  
regarding nondiscrimination and affirmative action. The University of  
Michigan is committed to a policy of equal opportunity for all persons  
and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national  
origin, age, marital status, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity,  
gender expression, disability, religion, height, weight, or veteran  
status in employment, educational programs and activities, and  
admissions. Inquiries or complaints may be addressed to the Senior  
Director for Institutional Equity, and Title IX/Section 504/ADA  
Coordinator, Office of Institutional Equity, 2072 Administrative  
Services Building, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-1432, 734-763-0235, TTY  
734-647-1388. For other University of Michigan information call  
734-764-1817.