Description

The Department of Computer Science in the Whiting School of Engineering of The Johns Hopkins University is seeking a Research Assistant who will assist faculty on specific research projects. In this role, the research assistant will conduct experiments on language models and evaluate these models. They will also work with supervising faculty on writing research papers.

The Research Assistant oversees data collection, data organization, and/or data management or similar functions/tasks for research study(ies) in support of a PI or a research team.

Specific Duties & Responsibilities

• Run routine and ad hoc reports.
• Use standard tools and computer programs to review data.
• Assist with data cleaning measures to ensure accuracy of data and preparation of tables.
• Lead basic activities such as data collection and data entry.
• May lead specific tasks and develop processes to ensure study activities occur effectively and efficiently.
• May conduct literature searches to support faculty in research efforts.
• May design and format papers/publications.
• May assist PIs in writing summaries of papers for release as policy briefs or other channels.
• Other duties as assigned.

In addition to the duties described above

• Develop and implement perception pipelines for surgical robotic systems, including vision model training, evaluation, and deployment.
• Design object detection, segmentation, and tracking algorithms for real-time surgical scene understanding.
• Integrate perception modules with robotic platforms (e.g., ROS-based systems) and ensure reliable real-time performance.
• Collect, curate, and annotate datasets, and conduct experiments to evaluate system performance in simulation and real-world settings.
• Contribute to research activities, including literature review, documentation, and preparation of manuscripts and technical reports.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's Degree in a related field.

• Additional education may substitute for required experience and additional related experience may substitute for required education beyond a high school diploma/graduation equivalent, to the extent permitted by the JHU equivalency formula.

Preferred Qualifications

• Master's Degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related fields.
• Strong programming skills in Python and C++.
• Familiar with probability and linear algebra.
• Training and/or experience working with computer vision models.
• Strong communication skills (both written and oral)

Technical Skills & Expected Level of Proficiency

• Analytical Skills - Awareness
• Attention to Detail - Awareness
• Data Management and Analysis - Awareness
• Formatting and Layout Proficiency - Awareness
• Information Gathering - Awareness
• Oral and Written Communications - Awareness
• Organizational Skills - Awareness

The core technical skills listed are most essential; additional technical skills may be required based on specific division or department needs.

Classified Title: Research Assistant
Role/Level/Range: ACRO37.5/03/CD
Starting Salary Range: $17.20 - $30.30 HRLY (Commensurate w/exp.)
Employee group: Casual / On Call
Schedule: M-F, 20 hrs weekly
FLSA Status: Non-Exempt
Location: Homewood Campus
Department name: Department of Computer Science
Personnel area: Whiting School of Engineering