Deputy Director of Allen Discovery Center at Tufts University

The Allen Discovery Center at Tufts University is seeking a versatile, highly-motivated, experienced individual to assist the Director (Michael Levin, www.drmichaellevin.org) in center startup, and development and management of on-going operations.

http://alleninstitute.org/what-we-do/frontiers-group/discovery-centers/allen-discovery-center-tufts-university/

Duties and Responsibilities:

The Deputy Director (DD) of the Allen Discovery Center at Tufts will work closely with the Director and the Center faculty and staff across Tufts University and collaborating institutions to manage the complexity of its operations, ensure successful implementation of Center goals, and implement its growth in scope and activities. The DD will report directly to the Institute Director and will have responsibility for aspects of scientific and technology development operations, facilities, IT and knowledge infrastructure, communications, intellectual property, and business development efforts. He or she will initially manage two direct reports, growing as needed to implement and manage all activities of this new multi-disciplinary research and development Institute. The DD will be expected to have a solid understanding of the scientific principles driving the Center mission, in order to provide strategic planning and management assistance to the Director. He or She will be one of the public faces of the Institute, occasionally speaking to press and science writers. He or she will help develop and manage the Center’s operational policies and procedures to ensure the successful implementation of the specific aims of the Center’s Scientific Plan. This includes oversight of research operations toward milestones, and of effective collaborations among multiple constituents, including but not limited to: external Institute faculty, the funding Foundation, Tufts administration, commercial vendors, as well as industry, philanthropic institutions, and the public.

Specific responsibilities include:

• Together with Institute Director and members, on an annual basis help develop and refine the Center’s strategic plan. This plan will include start-up phase as well as plans to grow the institute to meet long-range goals and acquire new funding.
• Implement the strategic plan for the creation of the institute, including establishing necessary infrastructures (facilities, instrumentation, IT, operating procedures, regulatory/compliance, and communication/oversight protocols). Initial steps will include hiring an administrative assistant and an engineer (whose job will be to help synthesize custom-built technology into novel instrumentation, and provide state-of-the-art IT infrastructure for the Institute), and evaluating and implementing digital systems for knowledge management, collaboration tools, and milestone tracking.
• Help shape and implement an operations plan to support the Institute’s strategic research directions, as well as future opportunities for growth.
• Develop and implement plans for designing, building out, and equipping the research facilities as needed for the strategic plan.
• Oversee the efficient and effective day-to-day research and technology development operations of the Institute. Maintain regular oversight and communication with all participants to ensure continued progress along Center milestones and provide regular actionable reports to Director.
• Strategically oversee the budget of the institute, establishing and implementing spending priorities in consultation with Institute Director, maintaining oversight of the spending in different categories.
• Identify and pursue novel funding opportunities in our scientific focus areas.
• Manage and supervise support staff reports, including hiring and review, responsibilities. Excellent interpersonal skills are a must; administrative and scientific interaction with scientists, from students to senior faculty, will be required.
• Work with the Director, to develop and implement a staffing plan, including hiring of technical personnel and faculty recruitments.
• Manage manuscript submission process. Assist with creation of Center audiovisual materials, interfacing to graphic artists as needed.
• Occasionally give lectures on aspects of the work to various audiences and audience levels. The ideal candidate will be able to travel, to give scientific talks about the various Center research directions and results.
• Identify, assess and inform the Director, the Institute faculty, and its various stakeholders of internal and external issues that affect the research operations or technology development at the Institute. Stay apprised of developments in industry and availability of new technical or human resources that provide new opportunities.
• Continually analyze current scientific literature to help identify new technologies, data, and human expertise that could impact aspects of the strategic plan. Bring new ideas and potential collaborations to the attention of the Director.
• Direct efforts related to business development, identification and cultivation of new funding sources and industry relationships worldwide, including design and execution of marketing and public relations activities, and speaking in public forums on behalf of the Center.
• Together with Director and other Center participants, write grants to expand funding portfolio, targeting government sources, foundations, and industry partners.
• Write invention reports (and interact with the IP/Tech Transfer office as needed).
• Work closely with appropriate Tufts University administration to maintain accountability for directing the information and data integrity of the Center and its faculty groups and for all their Information Technology functions. This includes all communication networks (voice and data), hardware and software for research and development, data storage and retrieval and all computer systems operations.
• Assist with regular progress reports to the Foundation, as well as managing the regular site visits, external evaluations, and participants’ scientific retreat.

Required Education, Experience and Skills

• A PhD degree in science or engineering (ideally Biology); demonstrated significant experience managing an academic research center or consortium, or industry research group focused on basic discoveries. A degree in business administration would be a plus.
• A strong background in biology (ideally, developmental or regenerative biology, cell biology, neuroscience, or bioengineering). Expertise in related fields (computer and information science, mathematics, artificial life, engineering) is a plus, as is a significant publication record.
• Management experience, especially in the start up of a new results-focused, research and development organization (academic or industry) strongly preferred. Experience in management of staff required.
• Strong computer and information science skills (including presentation tools, knowledge management, and collaboration technology). Comfort with computer use sufficient to evaluate new software performance against milestone specs is a plus.
• Outstanding written and verbal communication skills are essential, with an emphasis on synthesizing work products from multiple teams and facilitating interaction and accountability; excellent listening and collaboration skills are important especially in linking scientific vision to resource allocation and administrative operations.
• Demonstrated skills that derive from the experience of having implemented a vision for the strategic direction of an organization worldwide, engaged and won the support of various stakeholders and constituencies, energized and integrated multidisciplinary groups with multiple priorities.        You will then be contacted to facilitate application through our HR department. Candidates proceeding to the next phase will be asked for references.

To begin application process:

Please email a cover letter and complete CV to: William.Baga@tufts.edu

About the Center

The Allen Discovery Center at Tufts University is dedicated to fundamental advances in re-writing the morphogenetic code. Its focus is a novel vision for understanding and controlling large-scale patterning in vivo: extending the frontiers of multi-scale biophysics, to gain control of the interplay between physiology and genetics toward unprecedented capabilities in developmental and regenerative biology. Located in state-of-the-art new facilities on the Tufts main campus, it has pioneered a unique approach to the understanding and control of biological structure and function.

Under the leadership of director Dr. Michael Levin, molecular genetics, biophysics, and computer science are integrated toward new technology and conceptual advances. The Center faculty collaborate to develop a multi-level understanding of the mechanisms and information processing utilized by networks of cells as they build and repair complex anatomical structures. Exploiting biophysical and genetic mechanisms of cellular decision-making, the work of the Center seeks to understand the information processing, computation, and patterning processes that drive embryogenesis, regeneration, and tumor suppression. Technology developed in the Center is used to modulate the ubiquitous bioelectric circuits that enable all cells to coordinate their activities toward specific anatomical and functional end-states, thus rewriting the rules of pattern regulation and enabling top-down reprogramming beyond the level of individual cells. This new aspect of epigenetics has significant implications for developmental biology, evolution, unconventional computation, and synthetic bioengineering. By developing novel approaches to the control of growth and form, the Center’s efforts will drive transformative advances and applications to birth defects, regenerative medicine, and cancer. The Center is highly collaborative and consists of 9 external faculty at various institutions world-wide, in addition to facilities and scientific personnel at Tufts.

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