Postdoctoral Scholar - Research Associate

The Center for Science, Technology, and Public Life (STPL), housed within the Dana and David Dornsife College of Letters, Arts, and Sciences, is seeking a Postdoctoral Scholar – Research Associate to support a new collaborative research project entitled “The City on Life Support: Los Angeles as a Laboratory for Planetary Health.”

The Center serves as a platform for research, graduate training, and public engagement on contemporary problems at the intersection of science, technology, and society. Faculty, fellows, and Ph.D. students associated with STPL work on topics such as the production of knowledge about environmental crises, public trust in scientific expertise, the societal implications of artificial intelligence, and the impact of developments in the biosciences on contemporary understandings of the human.

“The City on Life Support” brings together USC faculty from multiple schools and disciplines to address the numerous “life-support systems” — such as water provision, sewerage, electricity, and logistics — that make urban existence possible but have been rendered vulnerable amid planetary-scale ecological crisis. The initiative focuses on three sites of interface between health and the environment that are especially salient in Los Angeles: the infrastructure of urban water provision in a period of increasing water scarcity; the energy grid and the dangers of extreme heat; and the relation between air pollution (including wildfire smoke) and respiratory illness.

Participating faculty in this project represent an interdisciplinary group that crosscuts the humanities, social sciences, design disciplines, environmental sciences, and health sciences. The group is well positioned to address the project’s core questions: What forms of ethics and politics consolidate around planetary concerns? What scales of space and time do they involve, and what sense of limits and possibilities do they evoke? How, more generally, do contemporary ecological crises reshape the experience of collective urban life?

Over the 2025–26 academic year, we will convene three workshops at USC on these problem areas. Drawing on the research presented, as well as relationships forged via these workshops, we will develop a larger-scale proposal for external support of a major project in the public humanities. The scholar will participate in all of these activities and will play a key role in developing a public-facing project based on the results of our research.

As a key researcher on “The City on Life Support,” the postdoctoral scholar will help to further the university’s goal of supporting research on sustainability in the humanities and humanistic social sciences. The postdoctoral scholar will be critical to the overall success of this project.

Responsibilities:

• The scholar will have a central role in conceptualizing, organizing, and participating in the three workshops.
• The scholar will help STPL leadership write the external grant application(s).
• In tandem with STPL leadership and other institutional partners, the scholar will have a leading role in conceptualizing, designing, implementing, and disseminating the public-humanities component of the project.

Preferred qualifications:

• Ph.D. in the humanities or humanistic social sciences.
• Ongoing research related to the goals of this project, along with a record of scholarly achievements.
• Some experience working on exhibitions (e.g. museum curation), initiatives or programming in the public humanities, or engagement with the digital humanities and its possibilities for the public understanding of scientific concepts and their social contexts is desirable.

Salary range: The salary range for this position is $68,640–$70,000. When extending an offer of employment, the University of Southern California considers factors such as (but not limited to) the scope and responsibilities of the position, the candidate’s work experience, education/training, key skills, internal peer equity, federal, state and local laws, contractual stipulations, grant funding, as well as external market and organizational considerations.

The successful candidate will perform other related duties as assigned or requested. The university reserves the right to add or change duties at any time.

Details of appointment:

• To apply, candidates must have completed all requirements for their doctoral degree after June 30, 2020, and before July 1, 2025. Applicants may come from any discipline in the humanities or humanistic social sciences, including history, art history, architectural history, American studies, ethnic studies, anthropology, communication, geography, sociology, and science and technology studies.
• The scholar is required to be in residence for the 2025–26 academic year. The scholar is expected to be an active participant in all aspects of the project, and in the broader life of STPL and the university.
• For more information about the position, project, or center, please contact Andrew Lakoff, Director, Center on Science, Technology, and Public Life: lakoff@usc.edu.

Required documents and additional information:

• Applicants should submit a cover letter describing their interest in and qualifications for the position, including a plan of research for the fellowship period; a CV; a short writing sample (such as a journal article or dissertation chapter); and the names and contact information for three references. All materials must be submitted via our online portal in the "Resume/CV" upload section.
• Review of applications will begin on March 1, 2025.
• Job openings are posted for a minimum of five (5) business days. This job may be removed from posting boards and filled any time after the minimum posting period has ended.

The University of Southern California (USC), founded in 1880, is located in the heart of downtown L.A. and is the largest private employer in the City of Los Angeles. As an employee of USC, you will be a part of a world-class research university and a member of the “Trojan Family,” which comprises the faculty, staff, and students who make the university a great place to work.  

As a community of Dornsife College, “we are committed to the creation, preservation, and communication of fundamental knowledge in all its forms…as well as a lifelong passion for learning and a commitment to the betterment of society.” The academic mission of Dornsife College can be realized to its fullest potential only when we build and protect a representative, equitable, inclusive culture of scholarship for students, faculty, and staff. This is not done through initiatives but by embedding these values into the everyday interactions, relationships, policies, and practices of the College. What is required is a seamless integration of the tenets of equity and inclusivity into every facet of academic life.  If we want our scholars, staff, and students to be able to give their very best, we must create an academic environment that portends success.  

Success is possible when all members of the Dornsife community own their roles as stewards of the culture in which we learn, research, and work; when we believe that it is because of who we are that we are able to do what we do: achieve excellence, together. 

Achieving a robust and inclusive academic culture requires more than just the completion of a task. It includes that person’s capacity to contribute positively to the relationships and culture of an office or department. Therefore, any applicant seeking to advance the mission of Dornsife College should also be assessed on their capacities beyond the technical elements of their work, and demonstrate an understanding of their impact on others, and to articulate how they contribute positively to those around them.

The largest and oldest of the USC schools, USC Dornsife functions as the academic core of the university, offering courses and advancing knowledge across the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences.

Salary : $68,640 - $70,000