Skip to main content

Postdoctoral Research Opportunity – Chemical Education

October 21, 2026

An open postdoctoral scholar position is available to join a collaborative educational team in Northwestern’s Chemistry department. This position offers a unique opportunity to work in chemical education, supporting General Chemistry courses and the Chemistry major curriculum and special projects benefitting undergraduates potentially including survey design, small group interviews, and coding resulting data.

This is a full-time position that works on-site. This is a term position with possibility of renewal.  The preferred start date is January 2027, but other start dates will be considered.

Key Responsibilities:

Will vary each quarter, but likely to include:

    • Potential to be instructor of record on courses. Independently manage operations of educational laboratory in after-hours time period. Provide support to Teaching Assistants and Undergraduate students.
    • Contribute to mentoring of Teaching Assistants and Undergraduates; foster a collaborative, respectful, and welcoming educational environment
    • Special projects supporting chemical education in the department, potentially including developing chemical demonstrations for classroom use, authoring classroom activities supporting learning, or analyze efficacy of educational efforts in the department.
    • Publish in educational journals, such as the Journal of Chemical Education. Aanalyze data from educational projects, present findings at internal and external scientific meetings, and participate in scholarly activities
  • Performs other duties as assigned.
Qualifications:
  • PhD in chemistry or a related field is required, PhD in chemical education is preferred
  • Experience working with qualitative data
  • Experience as a teaching assistant is required, experience as instructor of record is preferred
  • Excellent communication skills and growth mindset
How to Apply:

Please send a cover letter, CV, and letters directly from 2–3 references to chemhelp@u.northwestern.edu. Consideration is on a rolling basis, beginning immediately.