Ancient DNA Project Coordinator, Harvard University

Posted: 31-Aug-2017
Ancient DNA Project Coordinator
Harvard Medical School
43509BR

Duties & Responsibilities

We are looking for a creative and dedicated individual who will fit within our collaborative culture, and whose job will be to facilitate interactions between archaeologists and geneticists in a leading laboratory focusing on extracting DNA from human skeletal remains and analyzing the genomic data to learn about human population history and biology: https://reich.hms.harvard.edu/.

The position will require extensive organization and communication skills, and attention to protecting the interests of both geneticists in the laboratory, and the interests of collaborators.

Responsibilities

Coordinate the collaboration of the ancient DNA laboratory with dozens of archaeologists and geneticists simultaneously, allowing for flawless execution of multiple projects at once.

Manage shipping and receiving of skeletal samples from archaeologists and back to archaeologists when analysis is complete. This will involve communicating to archaeologists, tracking shipments, and ensuring that all electronic documentation of samples is meticulously completed and maintained in a uniform and easily communicated format.

Prepare regular reports to archaeologists about progress, and work with laboratory computer scientists on user-friendly platforms for giving archaeologists access to their data. Reply to queries from all collaborators in a timely way.

Maintain a system for tracking all projects simultaneously, and when projects fall behind schedule, alert supervisors (David Reich and Nadin Rohland) to work on a solution to address the delay. Continue to update all stakeholders regarding the project status
Protect the time of David Reich, Nadin Rohland, and the five wet laboratory technicians by being the point of contact and distributing the necessary information to the correct individual(s) so that they can focus on other activities critical to the ancient DNA laboratory beyond interacting with archaeologists.

Be highly flexible and organized. When responsibilities 1-5 are all address perform useful activities to support the laboratory such as organization and basic sample processing.

Basic Qualifications

Three of more years of related experience. Education beyond high school may count towards experience.

Additional Qualifications

Bachelor’s degree or higher in biology or archaeology, or curatorial or library science. Excellent written and verbal communication skills. Solid organizational skills including attention to detail and multi-tasking. Superb relationship management skills and clearly demonstrated skills at anticipating problems.

Additional Information

This is a grant-funded position for two years with the possibility of renewal.