Postdoctoral Research Associate in Biocultural Anthropology

The Biocultural Anthropology Lab, within the Department of Anthropology at Washington State University (WSU), has a Postdoctoral Scholar position available. At the intersection of social and biological sciences The Biocultural Anthropology Lab (https://labs.wsu.edu/meehan), under the direction of Dr. Courtney Meehan, is studying relationships between maternal-infant microbiomes, human milk composition, maternal-infant behavior, and health, as well as the associations between cannabis, human milk composition, infant development.

The postdoctoral scholar will work closely with Dr. Courtney Meehan and will also engage with an interdisciplinary research group centered on human milk composition, maternal-infant microbiomes, cannabis use in the perinatal period, cannabinoids, and maternal-infant health. The position is located in Pullman, WA.

The successful candidate will help manage projects and studies and conduct analyses on data from several ongoing projects. They will assist with managing a research team and mentoring undergraduate and graduate students. The postdoctoral scholar will analyze data and co-write papers. The focus of the successful candidate’s research while a postdoc will be determined by their expertise and its alignment with one or more of the lab’s current research projects.

Required Qualifications:

PhD at time of hire.

The candidate must have demonstrable skills in oral and written communication (including a publication record).

A background in one of the following is required: 1) evolutionary social science, 2) milk composition, 3) microbiomes, 4) quantitative analyses, 5) cannabis/cannabinoids, or 6) infant and child development.

Strong analytical skills (especially in R).

Preferred Qualifications:

The ideal candidate will be skilled at working both as an independent researcher and as part of a research team.

Previous engagement in interdisciplinary research is also desirable but not required.

Inquiries can be addressed by contacting Dr. Courtney Meehan at cmeehan@wsu.edu. The Department of Anthropology website can be accessed at https://anthro.wsu.edu/. For more information on WSU, please visit https://wsu.edu/.