Laboratory Associate

The New York University Center for Brain Imaging seeks a full-time, in-person Laboratory Associate to ensure the efficient and safe operation of MRI scanner equipment and associated technologies used in research, while overseeing the training, supervision, and performance of researchers. This includes maintaining compliance with safety, human subjects, and animal research protocols; troubleshooting equipment issues; coordinating maintenance and upgrades; and ensuring proper documentation for legal and operational purposes. The role also involves collaborating with researchers to design experiments, managing data transfer and storage, liaising with vendors and facilities for maintenance, and staying updated on emerging technologies.

Resposibilities include:

• Training and supervising all researchers on operating scanner equipment, software, and ancillary devices, and evaluating performance. Ensuring compliance with safety standards and maintaining a service-oriented operation. Ensuring the efficiency of equipment and compliance with safety procedures and instrument maintenance. Overseeing adherence to human subjects and animal research protocols, serving as the primary contact for complaints, and ensuring proper records are maintained for legal purposes. Consulting with the contracted neuro-radiologist whenever concerns about potential abnormalities arise. Collaborating with NYU's Office of Veterinary Resources to ensure safety and sanitary procedures compliance during animal research. Overseeing instrument calibration, supervising software upgrades, and troubleshooting complex equipment malfunctions while providing after-hours support when necessary.
• Collaborating with faculty, post-doctoral, graduate, and undergraduate students to determine methodology and experiment design; assisting researchers with reception of subjects and the interpretation of policies and procedures; overseeing the positioning and immobilization of subjects and phantoms; Operating MRI scanner and all ancillary equipment (e.g., physiological monitoring equipment, RF coils, Life Window monitor, audio system, video display systems, and computers); overseeing transfer and storage of images from the scanner host computer to the HPC.
• Acting as the primary liaison for facilities maintenance, including the environment, HVAC, building, and Center access. Conducting regular maintenance in the restricted areas of the Center and coordinating with Siemens Uptime to arrange regular preventive maintenance of equipment. Serving as a liaison with vendors to consult on proper instrument use to ensure a safe operating environment; negotiating costs of products and services; overseeing maintenance of scanner logs and service documentation (e.g., repair of machinery and equipment, and inventory of supplies and materials). Determining the need for equipment upgrade, repair, or replacement; overseeing instrument delivery and installation; inspecting the facility for renovation and maintenance needs; and ensuring smooth operations. Attending conferences and seminars to keep abreast of emerging technologies and instrument utilization, and maintaining expertise in equipment, operating systems, and current methods and practices.

Qualified applicants should have:

• Bachelor's degree in a science-related field;
• Minimum 2 years post-BA/BS with outstanding research competence;
• Experience with magnetic resonance equipment, neuroimaging techniques, technical facility management, training and/or teaching experience is required;
• Excellent interpersonal and organizational skills;
• Ability to effectively communicate with diverse individuals at all levels;
• Demonstrated ability to troubleshoot imaging systems and ancillary equipment;
• Familiarity with word processing, spreadsheets, databases, and web-based applications (e.g., HTML).

Additional preferred experience:

• Experience with an academic research environment.
• Experience with Apple/Mac computers and office software programs, including Shell scripting, Python, and Matlab coding skills.
• Must be well-versed in quality data collection to ensure adequacy, accuracy, and legitimacy of data in NYU systems and be able to strictly follow data privacy and security procedures for data handling and analysis to ensure adherence to legal and institutional standards.