NIST PREP Graduate Student in Human-Centered Digital Identity Research

This position is part of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Professional Research Experience Program (PREP). NIST recognizes that its research staff may want to collaborate with researchers at academic institutions on specific projects of mutual interest and, therefore, requires those institutions to be recipients of a PREP award. The PREP program involves staff from a wide range of backgrounds conducting scientific research across various fields. Individuals in this position will perform technical work supporting the collaboration’s scientific research.

Research Title: Human-Centered Digital Identity Research (part-time position)

The work will entail: This position will support the Human-Centered Digital Identity (HCDID) Research within the Human-Centered Technologies Group (https://www.nist.gov/itl/iad/human-centered-technologies). The HCDID research considers human needs, mental models, motivations, behaviors, and perceptions of security and privacy regarding identity verification using digital credentials. The candidate will work on HCDID projects to understand users’ identity proving and verification needs and experiences, specifically in the context of mobile driver’s licenses (mDLs) and digital wallets. The candidate will work alongside world-class researchers at NIST.

U.S. Citizen preferred.

Key responsibilities will include but are not limited to:

• Design/conduct human-subject studies (experimental design, surveys, and/or interviews).
• Conduct data analysis of human-subject experiments, surveys and/or interview data using inferential statistical methods and qualitative thematic and grounded theory analysis
• Search for, summarize, and synthesize literature relevant to HCDID, mDLs, and digital wallets
• Write/prepare reports, research papers, and presentations
• Present project information at internal and external meetings

Qualifications

This individual must have the following minimum knowledge, skills, and abilities:

• Current PhD/doctoral student in a field related to HCC (e.g., computer/information science, human factors, cybersecurity) with at least two years of study completed and a minimum of one year remaining in the degree program
• Education, research, or work experience in mDLs, digital identity, and digital wallet, demonstrating through relevant technical publications (including peer-reviewed papers, conference proceedings, or manuscripts currently submitted/under review for publication)
• Quantitative and Qualitative human-subject research experience
• Demonstrated ability to work both in teams and independently
• Strong organizational skills
• Strong oral and written communication skills

Furthermore, the following knowledge skills, and abilities are preferred:

• Experience reading, summarizing, and synthesizing research and industry reports/literature
• Experience creating visualizations of research data

Privacy Act Statement
Authority:  15 U.S.C. § 278g-1(e)(1) and (e)(3) and 15 U.S.C. § 272(b) and (c)
Purpose:  The National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST) hosts the  Professional Research Experience Program (PREP) which is designed to provide valuable laboratory experience and financial assistance to undergraduates, post-bachelor’s degree holders, graduate students, master’s degree holders, postdocs, and faculty.
PREP is a 5-year cooperative agreement between NIST laboratories and participating PREP Universities to establish a collaborative research relationship between NIST and U.S. institutions of higher education in the following disciplines including (but may not be limited to) biochemistry, biological sciences, chemistry, computer science, engineering, electronics, materials science, mathematics, nanoscale science, neutron science, physical science, physics, and statistics. This collection of information is needed to facilitate administrative functions of the PREP Program.
Routine Uses: NIST will use the information collected to perform the requisite reviews of the applications to determine eligibility, and to meet programmatic requirements. Disclosure of this information is also subject to all the published routine uses as identified in the Privacy Act System of Records Notices: NIST-1: NIST Associates.
Disclosure: Furnishing this information is voluntary. When you submit the form, you are indicating your voluntary consent for NIST to use of the information you submit for the purpose stated.

SURA is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We believe that no one should be discriminated against because of their differences, such as age, disability, ethnicity, gender, gender identity and expression, religion, or sexual orientation. All employment decisions shall be made without regard to age, race, creed, color, religion, sex, national origin, ancestry, disability status, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, genetic information, marital status, citizenship status, or any other basis as protected by federal, state, or local law.

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