Exercise Science Laboratory Assistant

Position Description: Exercise Science Laboratory Assistant

Job Term: one quarter (renewable) Maximum stipend: $ 1500/quarter

Salary and Employment Format:

• Fall: 30 hours of practicum
  
• Winter: Approximately 100 hours paid position (@ $15.00)
  
• Spring: Approximately 100 hours paid position (@ $15.00) 

Minimum Qualifications: Successful completion of PES 3570 (Biomechanics) and 3580 (Exercise Physiology) which are appropriate to your assignment as an assistant, satisfactory progress toward a degree with a minimum GPA of 3.0, and hold a current CPR certificate. Preference will be given to Exercise Science majors. 

Potential Benefit to the Student: The position as a laboratory assistant in the Health & Human Performance Department offers a variety of experiences that are worth mentioning on a resume as genuine work experiences. These include;

• valuable experience in client health screening
• valuable skills acquisition in the assembly, use, and maintenance of exercise science laboratory equipment
• reinforcement of concepts learned in your courses (enhancing such skills as recording, evaluating and interpreting data)
• experience as a teaching assistant (enhancing communication and problem-solving skills, as well as those skills associated with teaching, guiding and supervising students)
• general laboratory safety training 

General Responsibilities: You must attend a meeting convened by the laboratory manager (Dr. Cannavan) at the beginning of the quarter. This meeting will be held to provide basic safety instruction, to review the job description for the laboratory assistant, and to provide an overview of how the laboratories will be run during the term. Certification in Bloodborne Pathogens is also required prior to the Winter quarter. The class can be taken online through the American Red Cross. The cost of the course will be paid through the HHP Department.

A full, written description of your specific responsibilities during each laboratory session will be provided in a notebook checked-out to you at the beginning of the quarter. The notebook will include a copy of the laboratory procedure, as well as a set of laboratory assistant's instructions for each laboratory session, and must be returned at the end of the quarter.

You should also be aware of the responsibilities which are general to each laboratory session. These include:

1. Preparing in advance for the laboratory period:

• Read the experimental procedure, the lab assistant's instructions, and any other special information that is provided by the course instructor or laboratory manager.
• Ask the course instructor, or laboratory manager to answer any questions you may have regarding the procedures, set-ups, calculations, waste management, and/or safety issues before the designated laboratory time.

• Answer questions, but try to guide students through the thought process so they may develop answers to their own questions.
• Check set-ups and coach students through proper techniques as necessary.
• Demonstrate techniques and tricks that you have learned through your own experience (as long as they are proper and safe!).
• Circulate around the room, making yourself available to ALL students so each student may ask questions freely (show no favoritism!).

Laboratory assistants have no direct influence on grades, but do have an ethical responsibility not to show favoritism. If the supervisor or the assistant in question sees potential for a problem in this area, the laboratory assistant's assignment will be changed.

1. Promoting safety in the laboratory:

• Be alert for potentially unsafe behavior, practices, set-ups, and situations, and correct them; or bring them to the attention of the laboratory supervisor if you are unsure of the proper procedures to be used.
• Enforce proper collection of chemical waste for disposal, and proper disposal of non-hazardous laboratory waste.
• Monitor and enforce Universal Precautions during every use of the Exercise Science Laboratory.

• Clean-up spills by proper methods (if you are unsure of the proper procedures, see your laboratory supervisor).
• Clean the areas around instruments used during the laboratory period.
• Replace supplies, or notify laboratory manager, such as printer paper, blood lactate testing strips, cleansing wipes, hydrostatic weighing tank solutes, metabolic cart desiccant, as required.
• Make sure all equipment’s are returned to where they were at the beginning of the laboratory period (on benches, counters, or rooms, depending on the particular experiment).
• Wash and put away metabolic cart ancillaries as needed

• Perform simple repairs and/or calibrations of equipment.
• Help identify a need for, and create, future laboratory experiments
• Coordinate and assist with student and faculty research projects

The Application Procedure: The Health & Human Performance Department solicits applications via the Seattle Pacific University job board at the beginning of the Spring Quarter for position(s) which begin in Autumn Quarter with selections made before the end of the Spring Quarter. Payment, hours, and course registration information is listed above.

Supervision: The laboratory manager will provide you with all materials necessary in your position and will advise you of your starting date. You will be given tasks and assignments by email. You are asked to track your activities along with your time spent devoted to those tasks in a spreadsheet. That spreadsheet should be sent to Dr. Cannavan at the end of each week. Dr. Cannavan will also approve your timesheet through the Banner Information System, which are responsible for completing according to the due dates laid out by the SPU Student Payroll office.