Job Description

The Camera Culture group focuses on making the invisible visible—inside our bodies, around us, and beyond—for health, work, and connection. The goal is to create an entirely new class of computational and sensory platforms that have an understanding of the world that far exceeds human ability and produce meaningful abstractions that are well within human comprehensibility.

The administrative assistant will provide varied and complex administrative support to Professor Raskar and the Camera Culture research group.

This is a part-time position (20 hours/week) with a hybrid schedule. This position is required to be on-site Thursdays between 9 am – 1 pm with two other days and times to be confirmed. This is a Monday through Friday position.

Responsibilities

Financial (50%)

• Responsible for monitoring all financial activities for the research group including working with the fiscal officer to review established budgets (income and spending) regularly and report to professor as needed;
• Manage day-to-day spending and make purchases for the group according to Media Lab Finance and MIT procedure and compliance policy, including but not limited to:

1. Expense reconciliation, reimbursements, day-to-day purchasing, purchase orders and contracts including independent contractor coordination, complete monthly Financial Review & Control (FRC) reports, pay invoices, maintain all records, invoices, receipts, etc. according to MIT’s record retention policy;
2. Responsible for using MIT Procurement and Travel credit cards for the group according to Media Lab Finance and MIT procedure and compliance policy.

• Assist professor with initiating Principal Investigator Proposal Initiation (PIPI) form for grant applications.

Administrative (50%)

• Schedule and coordinate PI and group calendars, research demos, and research meetings with internal/external partners, and monitor important deadlines as needed;
• Process travel expense reports including reimbursements for professor and group members;
• Maintain professors CV and bio sketches;
• Maintain, update, and ensure group’s team and project web pages are up to date;
• Draft, proofread, and edit documents, such as letters of recommendation;
• Serve as information resource and facilitate communication with the professor, students, and group members;
• Work closely with academic program to ensure effective onboarding of visiting students, UROPS (Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program), and researchers;
• Support onboarding/offboarding activities for group members, such as coordinating space, equipment, Media Lab/MIT accounts, etc.;
• Other duties as assigned.

Course Support

• Coordinate with academic program on room reservations and course catalog listing;
• Update class information on Canvas and other sources such as uploading documents for fall and spring course as directed by professor;
• Support weekly class arrangements and associated events for fall and spring course:

1. Coordinate classroom A/V and make sure technology is in place and working;
2. Coordinate space, catering and logistics for classes, tutorials, and mixers at the Media Lab or other on campus locations.

• May follow-up on professor initiated speaker invitations and confirm speaker dates;
• May coordinate course website content with current semester information and confirm details with instructors, speakers, guests, invited experts, and students per professor’s direction.

Events

• Coordinate logistics for meetings, workshops, and conferences (2-3 larger events with up to 200 people) such as securing space, handling work orders and event registrations, coordinating online conferencing, arranging catering, setup and cleanup, working with suppliers, tracking registration, and scheduling and supporting other event activities as assigned.

Qualifications

MINIMUM REQUIRED EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE:

• High School diploma or equivalent;
• Three years of experience as an administrative assistant or related experience;
• Effective communicator with exceptional verbal and written communication skills;
• Ability to successfully work and collaborate with a creative and diverse group of people; including researchers, students, corporate sponsors, and administrators;
• Excellent customer service and interpersonal skills;
• Superior attention to detail with effective organizational skills to manage competing priorities and deadlines in a fast-pace environment;
• Exercises discretion, diplomacy, and tact;
• Adept at using communication tools such as Slack, and teleconference equipment/software;
• Excellent computer skills including proficiency with Google workspace, and comfortable learning new software.

PREFERRED EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE:

• Associate or Bachelor's degree;
• Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp;
• MIT business apps: Microsoft Office, SAPgui, Concur, Google workspace, Dropbox.

Pay range minimum: $27/hr   

Pay range maximum: $32.90/hr

Application material must include a cover letter 

To apply, go to https://hr.mit.edu/jobs and search for job ID # 25540