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Research Support Assistant - Deputy Director, IQC

Department: Institute for Quantum Computing (IQC) Effective Date: March 1, 2012
Grade:

USG 6

35 hr/wk

Reports to: Assistant Director, Administration

General Accountability

Accountable to the Assistant Director, Administration, Institute for Quantum Computing (IQC) to provide administrative/research support to the Deputy Director of IQC and his research group.  Areas of responsibility include financial monitoring, budgeting, data compilation, personnel administration, course management, management of Deputy Director’s calendar and prioritized to do list, management of the Institute’s publication repository, report and proposal writing, as well as special projects. The incumbent is expected to perform many duties which are sensitive and confidential in nature.

Nature and Scope

Strategic Context:

The mission of the Institute for Quantum Computing is to advance fundamental experimental and theoretical knowledge in relevant areas of Engineering, Mathematics, and Science to enhance developments in the field of Quantum Computation and Information Processing.  To achieve this mission, the Institute brings together the best researchers and students from around the world in Computing, Engineering, Mathematical and Physical Sciences.

Internal and External Relationships

Other positions which report to the same supervisor:

Administrative Assistant Receptionist

Administrative/Financial Assistant Faculty and Research Groups (3)

Administrative Officer

Visitor & Alumni Coordinator

Financial Officer

Office Assistant (casual)

Positions that report to the incumbent:  None

Significant Internal Relationships:

The Administrative Coordinator has regular contact with faculty, postdoctoral fellows, staff, and students within the Mathematics, Science and Engineering Faculties.  In addition, there is ongoing contact with staff in the Office of Research, Finance, Human Resources, Plant Operations, Procurement, Registrar’s office, and other academic and administrative departments.

Significant external relationships:

Ongoing communication with granting agencies, government agencies, industry and corporations, i.e. Industry Canada, NSERC, MPRIME, CIFAR, CFI, IARPA, Raytheon BBN Technologies, Certicom, and OCE.

Statistical Data

Currently there are 18 full time faculty members from three UW faculties (Mathematics, Engineering and Science) and the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, who work collaboratively with the Director and Deputy Director to advance the goals of the Institute.  Plans are to increase the number of faculty to 30 full time positions within the next 2-3 years.  As well, the Institute currently has 85 graduate students and 30 postdoctoral fellows registered in other faculties but studying within the Institute with the intention to increase to 125 and 50 respectively.  IQC has recently established it’s own graduate program.

IQC faculty members are engaged in extensive research, with over 120 active grants and contracts.  IQC grants and gifts total in excess of $250 Million comprised of private, provincial, and federal funding.

Specific Accountabilities

Major Responsibilities:

Acts as the Administrative/Financial Assistant to the Deputy Director.  Responsible for Deputy Director’s calendar, and maintenance of the Deputy Director’s prioritized to-do list.  Picks up and delivers material as required. Answers Deputy Director’s telephone, screens calls, relays important messages by email and greets visitors.

Budgeting, budgetary forecasting and financial management:  Monitors and has signing authority on faculty research group accounts as authorized.  This will include financial monitoring of the recently awarded $2.5M IARPA award and $1.5 CREATE award, along with other existing and potential grants.   Monitors financial resources for Deputy Director and research group, provides information to ensure that funding is available, and provides advice to the research group regarding funding and reporting deadlines.  This includes administration and monitoring of accounts following established policies and procedures appropriate to the various granting agencies.  Initiates transfer memos and charge backs as appropriate.

Grant life cycle; maintains database of all relevant IQC grants and contracts. This includes award name, yearly awards, restrictions, reporting requirements, end dates, and anticipated future funding.

Prepares financial forms and documents following university policies and liaison with Dean of Science Office, Office of Research and the Finance department as required.  This includes Cover Letters, and requests for Interim Research Accounts.

Assists in developing grant proposals for research group; acquires and compiles application information, liaises with Office of Research and granting agency personnel.  Develops and maintains electronic versions of research grant application forms.

Prepares year-end and other scientific progress reports for granting agencies as applicable.  This includes reporting on two large grants valued at $2.5 and $1.5 Million respectively, as well as the NSERC Frequency Report, GWPI and other existing and future awards.  Updates scientific activity report for Perimeter Institute, via Intranet systems.  Maintains appropriate details and assists Deputy Director in writing the annual Faculty Activity Report.  Uses various software applications, such as Microsoft Excel and relational databases and other graphics packages to assemble, manipulate and/or format data and/or reports.

Personnel management; prepares payroll forms for co-op students, research assistants, and visitors.  Arranges space, equipment, keys, telephone, and computer accounts for these individuals.

Maintains standardized file for individual grants and contracts; ensures up to date CVs for the research group are available in LaTeX.

Faculty liasion; Collects and maintains agenda items and meeting minutes for regular meetings which the Deputy Director has with Deans and Chairs of the Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Faculty. 

Arranges special quarterly meetings which involve industry members (Certicom and RIM) as well as members of IQC’s Quantum Cryptography group and UW’s Centre For Applied Cryptographic Research (CACR). Arranges meeting rooms, parking, AV equipment, and catering.

Expense claims; Manages travel, accommodation arrangements, and travel claims for Deputy Director, postdoctoral fellows, graduate students and visitors of the research group.

Prepares requests for reimbursement for Deputy Director, other researchers including, associate faculty, Post Doctoral Fellows, and students of the research group.

Important Secondary Responsibilities:

Course Management; Creates and maintains course webpages for specialized Quantum Information courses. Uploads lecture notes, slides and presentations from numerous lecturers for student use. Manages TAs as required, maintains records of student grades and coordinates lecture rooms and hours for lecturers. Creates posters and advertises special lectures campus-wide and within industry to attract a wide audience.

Publications Repository Management; Imports IQC’s publications from SCOPUS, ISI Web of Science, arXiv.org and other journal databases and keeps IQC’s repository up-to-date. Reports on the Institutions bibliometric achievements (number of publications, collaborating institutions, citations) on a quarterly basis. Researches methods of improving the visualization of publications’ bibliometric information.

Provides assistance with special projects as assigned.

Scope of Responsibilities:

Knows the formal and informal goals, standards and policies of the Institute, the various departments which IQC is affiliated with, and is familiar with University policies and procedures.

Decision Making:

Carries out duties and responsibilities with limited supervision. Makes decisions and establishes work priorities on essential procedure-oriented operations.

Communication:

Exchanges non-routine and confidential information.  Excellent oral and written communication skills are required

Requirements:

Extensive administrative experience in an academic environment.  Demonstrated knowledge of UW’s policies and procedures (Travel, Moving, Procurement), experience using UW’s financial Management system (FORE), knowledge of research grant administration, extensive knowledge of the policies for various granting agencies (NSERC, MITACS, IARPA, ARO etc).  Excellent oral and written communication, excellent project management skills, highly analytical, and strong organizational and interpersonal skills. Proven ability to deal with confidential issues and interact with a wide range of individuals.  Proven aptitude for attention to detail. 

Must have demonstrated ability to work independently and as a team member in a busy environment with competing deadlines and changing priorities.  Proficient with various software including but not limited to Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, Outlook), familiarity with FORE, and typesetting with LaTeX.  Experience with other mark-up languages such as basic HTML as well as CSS and WordPress, as well as knowledge of relational database management systems such as SQL would be considered an asset.

Bachelor’s degree or equivalent education and minimum of 3 years experience in administration is desired. Some after hours and weekend work is required for special events.

Working Conditions