• Job Description

  Req#: 509123

  Department Overview:	The Waisman Center is dedicated to the advancement of knowledge about human development, developmental disabilities, and neurodegenerative diseases throughout the lifespan. One of 15 centers of its kind in the United States, the Waisman Center encompasses laboratories for biomedical and behavioral research, several scientific research cores, and a clinical biomanufacturing facility for the production of pharmaceuticals for early stage human clinical trials. In addition to its research efforts, the Center provides an array of services to people with developmental disabilities, offers numerous educational and outreach programs to young children and their families, and trains scientists and clinicians who will serve our nation in the future.
  Anticipated Start Date:	6/18/2025
  Anticipated End Date (If Applicable):
  Remote Work Eligibility Detail:	Not Remote
  Anticipated Hours Per Week:	12
  Schedule:	to be determined upon hire
  Salary/Wage Range/Lump Sum:	$17.00
  Number of Positions:	1
  Qualifications:	Background in data science, statistics, computer science preferred.
  Knowledge, Skills & Abilities:	experience with Python, Praat, audio editing / analysis software preferred.
  Position Summary/Job Duties:	Research in the WISC Lab has four primary themes, all focused on improving communication abilities in individuals with cerebral palsy (CP). Collectively, our projects target clinical decision-making, assessment, and treatment of speech in CP. Projects are: 1. Longitudinal development of speech, language, and communication from early childhood through adulthood in CP. This project seeks to characterize changes in speech production features, speech intelligibility, language / cognition, and functional communication and to identify early predictors of later outcomes to guide intervention decision-making in children and adults with cerebral palsy. A primary goal is to generate theoretically driven, data-based longitudinal models of speech and language development that can be used to create and test clinical treatments. 2.) Characterizing auditory perceptual features of speech in typical children and children with CP. This project seeks to develop growth curves for development of auditory perceptual features of speech in typical children and children with CP to establish benchmarks for identifying children with speech features suggestive of dysarthria. A primary objective is to quantify the contributions of the different auditory perceptual features of speech to intelligibility, which will have direct implications for personalized treatment. 3.) Development of an automated tool for characterizing articulatory goodness in children. This project seeking to develop automated measures of articulation development in children with and without disabilities using machine learning for acoustic modeling. A key goal is to establish a new metric for measuring speech sound production and to develop growth curves for articulation development based on this new metric. 4.) Establishing preliminary efficacy of speech supplementation interventions for improving intelligibility in children with CP. This project seeks to quantify the effects of alphabet supplementation and topic supplementation on intelligibility in children with CP. A primary objective is to determine how much speech changes occurs and to quantify the extent to which changes are clinically meaningful to listeners. 1. Manage lab data (data type, collection procedure, storage) for reduction and analysis: 20% 2. Prepare (load, transform, aggregate) lab data: 20% 3. Perform assigned data-related procedures: 20% 4. Build exploratory models of data and document procedures: 10% 5. Create data visualizations: 10% 6. Program experimental studies and analyses: 20%
  Physical Demands:	None
  Institutional Statements:	Equal Employment Opportunity Statement: UW-Madison is an Equal Employment, Equal Access Employer committed to increasing the diversity of our workforce. Institutional Statement on Diversity: Diversity is a source of strength, creativity, and innovation for UW-Madison. We value the contributions of each person and respect the profound ways their identity, culture, background, experience, status, abilities, and opinion enrich the university community. We commit ourselves to the pursuit of excellence in teaching, research, outreach, and diversity as inextricably linked goals. The University of Wisconsin-Madison fulfills its public mission by creating a welcoming and inclusive community for people from every background-people who as students, faculty, and staff serve Wisconsin and the world. For more information on diversity and inclusion on campus, please visit: diversity.wisc.edu Accommodation Statement: If you need to request an accommodation because of a disability, you can find information about how to make a request at the following website:https://employeedisabilities.wisc.edu/disability-accommodation-information-for-applicants/

• About the company

  The University of Wisconsin is a top-ranked research institution located in Madison, Wisconsin, providing exceptional education opportunities to undergraduates, graduate and professional students.

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