Post Doctoral Opportunities in the Human Dimension of Network Science

Comparable to developments in academia, private industry, and the home and personal environments, the US military is building a network-centric force that will rely on networked communications to push information to Soldiers and from which they will pull information that they need. Advances in network science are required to support this capability and must draw from a host of disciplines comprising the cognitive and social sciences; computer science; and information science.

The Army Research Laboratory's Human Research and Engineering Directorate is conducting a cross-disciplinary basic and applied research program to significantly advance the state-of-the-art in how networks influence and are influenced by human behavior in the context of military decision making. The research will contribute to the development of theory, methods, measures, models, and understanding of networked communications and the social-cognitive implications of those networks. This research will ultimately help guide the design of human-team-system interaction and feed future operational tools. Research environments range from computational modeling, to networked simulations in a laboratory environment, to field exercises. An applied human factors or cognitive systems engineering approach will be used. Among the analytic techniques to be employed are the newly emerging dynamic social network tools. Of benefit would be a knowledge of complexity theory, self-emergent networks as applied to network science, cognitive work analysis, cognitive task analysis, concept mapping, scale and questionnaire development, semi-structured interviews, and analytical skills.

Key themes include portraying network information, and investigations into how to drive the information and communication in order to influence the network in real time to support the Soldier/decision maker. Thus, studies will look at the effects of technology on cognitive workload, team collaboration, organizational effectiveness, and decision making. Our goal is to better understand the interdependencies between the cognitive, social, information, and communication networks and ultimately to help align Soldier and system capabilities in real time to support decision making.

Fellowships are offered through either the National Research Council or the Oak Ridge Associated Universities programs.

For information on ARL’s programs, visit http://www.arl.army.mil/ and click on Post Doctoral Research Programs in the left column.

Network Science positions are available at Army Research Laboratory, Human Research & Engineering Directorate, Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD. Stipend is approximately $75K.

Point of Contact for Network Science Fellowships: Don Headley, Ph.D.; dheadley@arl.army.mil; 410-278-5919