Rethinking the Academic Poster?

Written by Chrystelle Kiang

Poster sessions are a requirement for our MPH/ MPSH students and part of almost every scientific conference, yet making a poster can be a stressful. Research posters are a concise way to showcase your work and allow more creativity in presenting results. They allow people who may not be experts on your topic to gain an idea of current research and new findings in the field.

What tends to happen though, is that people take sections of a write up of their results and re-arrange them around some old template. Don’t get me wrong- a template is useful, especially when a reader only has a few minutes to spend on a poster. However, the large chunks of text defeat the purpose of the poster. May as well hand out copies of the original paper. Mike Morrison, a PhD student in Industrial and organizational psychology at Michigan State, is on a mission to fix academic posters. He made a video explaining the current problem and proposes a bold new template with focus on the main finding:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RwJbhkCA58

We’ll see if this takes off, but is something to consider when making your next poster.

Mike is on twitter (@mikemorrison) and his template can be found at https://osf.io/6ua4k/ .

Research Assistant – Part-time, Temporary

James Bell Associates (https://www.jbassoc.com) – Atlanta, GA

Well-established firm specializing in evaluations of child welfare and human services programs seeks to support a child welfare case record data project for approximately 4-week period in Atlanta, GA. The research assistant is responsible for reviews of administrative and case records of children/families involved in child welfare, and extraction of data elements into Access database. This research study is examining methods for identifying and serving children in the child welfare system who are affected by prenatal exposure to alcohol and other substances, including opioids. The results will lay the groundwork for improved care and outcomes for children, reliable prevalence data, and appropriate allocation of resources.

Duties & Responsibilities

* In-depth 2-day training on project and data collection responsibilities and Access database

* Collection and synthesis of administrative data from state social services data base

* Data entry into structured Access database

* Communicates with the project team manager

* Adheres to the company’s confidentiality protocol

Knowledge & Skills

* Strong organizational and analytical skills

* Attention to detail

* Research training and skills

* Experience with Microsoft Office products (e.g., Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access)

* Excellent written and oral communication skills

* Ability to work effectively as part of a team and independently

Education Experience

Bachelor’s or Master’s degree with at least two years of work experience in child welfare, social sciences, human services, and/or applied research

Other Requirements

Must be a US citizen and be able to pass background checks.

Compensation/Timing/Location

* Competitive hourly pay ($22-29/hr)

* Between 25-35 hours a week for intensive/consecutive 3- to 4-week period

* Flexible timing, may include evenings and weekends

* Position in Atlanta, GA

* Mileage reimbursement available for local staff

Apply E-mail resume and cover letter with position sought to: Erin Morehouse at morehouse [at] jbassoc [dot] com or send via mail to: Erin Morehouse, c/o James Bell Associates, Inc., 3033 Wilson Blvd., Suite 650, Arlington, VA 22201. Fax: 703-243-3017. Equal opportunity employer.

American Statistical Association webinar, 5/23

Following the recent publication of a special issue of The American Statistician on “Statistical Inference in the 21st Century: A World Beyond p< 0.05” that features 43 papers on alternatives to p-values, the National Institute of Statistical Sciences is inviting you to a free webinar that provides a synopsis of the alternative ideas covered in the special issue and encourages additional discussions around this important topic.

The webinar will be held on Thursday May 23, 12-2pm ET (9-11am PT). Following is lineup of the speakers for the webinar (all times are ET).

12:00 Esra Kurum, (University of California, Riverside)
Introductions and moderator guidelines

12:05 Nicole Lazar, (University of Georgia)
“History of the topic and the motivation for American Statistical Association’s and The American Statistician’s involvement in
this topic”

12:25 Daniel Jeske, (University of California, Riverside)
“Overview of some of the technical matter found in some of the alternatives found in the special issue of The American
Statistician.”

12:55 Jessica Utts, (University of California, Irvine)
“How we might teach and influence inter–disciplinary collaborations”

1:15 Nell Sedransk, (Director-DC, National Institute of Statistical Science)
“Translation to other contexts: social science and big data research”

1:30 Q & A with the audience and speakers
Moderated by Esra Kurum

The webinar will use Zoom and is free to the public. Please register for this event HERE.

Summer Practicum with Georgia Department of Public Health

**Unpaid Summer Internship**

The Georgia Department of Public Health is seeking qualified candidates to work with the Enteric Disease and Emerging Infections Program Team, under the Acute Disease Epidemiology Section.

This Intern position is 10 – 40 hours/week or less (part-time) for the Summer semester. The Intern position can be used to satisfy college credit or practicum hours.

Job Description:

The Georgia Department of Public Health is looking for a current MPH student to assist in patient interviewing, data entry, data collection, data management, medical chart reviews, and other clerical work. The position includes calling cases and controls to conduct interviews related to communicable disease surveillance, special studies, and outbreaks during weekday, weeknight, and weekend hours. Data entry and management responsibilities will include using various databases, such as Excel, Access, and the Georgia electronic notifiable disease system. Although the person filling this position will have the opportunity to learn about notifiable disease surveillance in general, the focus will be following up on reportable enteric disease cases, such as cases of Salmonella, Shigella, Campylobacter, Shiga-toxin producing E. coli, Listeria, Vibrio, Yersinia, Cryptosporidium, and Cyclospora, as well as surveillance duties for invasive bacterial diseases under the Emerging Infections Program.

As part of a practicum experience, the student will:

1. Gain an understanding of how notifiable disease surveillance functions.

2. Understand how outbreak investigations are conducted.

3. Have an opportunity to analyze notifiable disease surveillance, study, and/or outbreak data.

Agency:

The Georgia Department of Public Health is the lead agency entrusted by the people of the state of Georgia with the ultimate responsibility for the health of communities and the entire population.

Goal:

Prevent disease, injury and disability; promote health and well-being; prepare for and respond to disasters.

Minimum Qualification:

Proficiency in Microsoft Office

Preferred Qualification:

Experience conducting interviews

Location:

2 Peachtree St NW, Atlanta GA 30303

If interested or if you have questions, please contact Hope Dishman (Hope [dot] Dishman [at] dph [dot] ga [dot] gov) or Nadine Oosmanally (Nadine [dot] Oosmanally [at] dph [dot] ga [dot] gov)