Graduate Research Assistant

Project Title: Exploring Sustainable Food Systems as a Strategy to Mitigate Climate Anxiety in Higher Education

Position Title: Graduate Research Assistant

Time Commitment: 5 hours/week for Fall 2025 and Spring 2026 (compensation $20/hour)

Position Summary 

The Graduate Research Assistant will work directly with Dr. Supriya Misra, Assistant Professor of Public Health, and Dr. Zubaida Qamar, Associate Professor of Nutrition, to launch a new mixed-methods formative research study about climate change, sustainable food systems, and mental health with SF State students to both expand our fields’ knowledge about the experiences of marginalized college students and inform the campus’ future food systems interventions. 

The project includes the development and implementation of a student survey and two focus groups and the formation of a campus stakeholder collaborative to collect data about these experiences. It will also include contributing to a research manuscript about food security and mental health using recent campus data. The project will run from the start of Fall 2025 to the end of Spring 2026, so preference will be given to a student who can commit to the entire academic year. You must be an enrolled SFSU student for the entire period to be eligible. Funding for this project comes from an SF State Office of Sponsored Research & Sponsored Programs Small Grant.

Responsibilities Include:

• Manage project logistics (e.g., IRB approval, coordination, scheduling)
• Conduct literature reviews including summary and synthesis of findings
• Contribute to developing study materials (e.g., survey questions, interview guides, recruitment materials, IRB application) in Fall 2025
• Contribute to data collection including running the student survey and co-facilitating two focus groups in Spring 2026
• Assist in quantitative and qualitative data cleaning and analysis starting in Spring 2026
• Contribute to a research manuscript about food security and mental health using recent campus data

Minimum Qualifications 

Current SFSU graduate student. Bachelor's degree, preferably in public health, health education, nutrition/dietetics, social work, psychology, or a related field, or equivalent combination of education and experience. Strong communication and interpersonal skills. Familiarity with research studies involving human subjects. Preference for interest and/or work experience around climate change, food systems sustainability, or mental health. 

To Apply

If interested, please complete this Google Form by July 1, 2025 5pm PT. The application will ask for your CV/resume, transcript, and two short essay questions describing your interest in the project and relevant prior experience related to the listed responsibilities. We will start reviewing applications at that time but accept rolling applications. Contact Dr. Supriya Misra (supriya@sfsu.edu) and Dr. Zubaida Qamar (qz@sfsu.edu) with the subject line “Graduate Research Assistant application” if you have any questions or need more time to reply.