Part-Time Research Assistant – Smeal Research Intelligence (SRI)

The Pennsylvania State University; University Park (TX); On-site; USD 18,000 - 26,000; Part time

Job summary

Penn State University Park seeks a part-time Research Assistant to support a Smeal faculty team led by Professor Aydin Alptekinoglu. You will build and maintain an automated pipeline to collect faculty publications and working papers and develop search tools over the repository.

The role is up to 15 hours per week during the academic semester, starting at $16.00 per hour. Candidates should have strong Python skills, API experience including Crossref or similar, familiarity with LLM APIs,

Qualifications

• Currently enrolled Penn State student.
• Strong Python skills, including writing maintainable scripts and working with APIs.
• Experience collecting and cleaning data programmatically (e.g., scraping, publisher APIs).
• Familiarity with LLM APIs and prompt design.
• Basic understanding of embeddings, vector search, and retrieval-augmented generation.
• Comfort with Git and basic software testing practices.
• Ability to work independently and document code clearly.

Responsibilities

• Build and maintain an automated pipeline that collects Smeal faculty publications and working papers.
• Develop and test search and discovery tools over the repository.
• Support development of synthesis and translation features for faculty, research centers, marketing, and development.
• Test the system with a small pilot collection, then scale to the full collection.

Skills

Python

APIs

Data collection

LLM APIs

Embeddings

Git

Documentation

Independent work

Education

Currently enrolled Penn State student

Tools

Streamlit

Flask

Crossref API

Semantic Scholar API

SSRN API

Job description

Job Description

The Department of Supply Chain and Information Systems at Penn State University Park invites applications for one part-time research assistant with an anticipated start date in October 2026. The successful candidate will assist a team of Smeal faculty lead by Professor Aydin Alptekinoglu for up to 15 hours per week during the academic semester.

Job Duties

• Build and maintain an automated pipeline that collects Smeal faculty publications and working papers
• Develop and test search and discovery tools over the repository
• Support development of synthesis and "translation" features for faculty, research centers, marketing, and development
• Test the system with a small pilot collection, then scale to the full collection

Required Qualifications

• Currently enrolled Penn State student
• Strong Python skills, including writing maintainable scripts and working with application programming interfaces (APIs)
• Experience collecting and cleaning data programmatically (e.g., scraping, working with publisher/scholarly APIs such as Crossref, Semantic Scholar, or SSRN, handling PDFs and metadata)
• Familiarity with large language model (LLM) APIs (OpenAI, Anthropic, or similar) and prompt design
• Basic understanding of embeddings, vector search, and retrieval-augmented generation (RAG)
• Comfort with Git and basic software testing practices
• Ability to work independently and document code and processes clearly

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience building a simple web app or dashboard (e.g., Streamlit, Flask, or similar) for search interfaces
• Familiarity with academic publishing and how faculty research is organized (journals, working papers, citation metadata)
• Experience with Digital Measures or similar faculty-activity systems
• Awareness of copyright/paywall and data-privacy considerations when handling publications

Compensation

Starting rate for this position is $16.00 per hour. Candidates with questions may contact the department assistant, Autumn Knepp, at [e-mail].

Background Checks/Clearances

Employment with the University will require successful completion of background check(s) in accordance with University policies.

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