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EUReCA! Student Assistant in Quantitative Research (Public Health, Social and Behavioral Sciences)

University of Colorado Denver
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The EURēCA! Student Assistants Program provides introductory opportunities for CU Denver undergraduates to engage in research and creative activities. Students MUST complete the EURēCA! Presentation and Quizzes in Canvas (30min) to apply for all EURēCA! positions. Register Here. 

For more information, view visual guide: Applying for EURēCA! on Handshake, learn more on the EURēCA! Program Website, or email undergrad.research@ucdenver.edu.

Employer/Dept: University of Colorado Denver/ Department of Health and Behavioral Sciences

Supervisor: Ronica Rooks, PhD.

Job Title: EURēCA! Student Assistant in Quantitative Research (Public Health, Social and Behavioral Sciences)

Job Location/Address: CU Denver  / This position can be flexible with some remote and some on-campus components.

Purpose: Denver, Colorado is the second most gentrified U.S. city. Gentrification targets attractive locations transforming neighborhood home values from low to high and introduces cost of living stressors (i.e., increased housing, transportation, food, community health, and in-home services costs). It presents challenges for people with fixed income who want to remain in their communities. But, we know less about gentrification’s effects on differing groups of adults aged ≥55 and how gentrification-related programs, policies, and resources help older adults age in place in the Denver metropolitan area. Two neighborhoods of interest, Auraria-LaAlma-LincolnPark and Montbello, are largely low-income, Latinx, African American, and White adults. We worked with the Aging PCOR (Patient Centered Outcomes Research) Learning Collaborative improving our community engagement strategies to learn how older adults aged ≥55 viewed gentrification; how gentrification impacted them; and best practices in recruitment and retention strategies. Our initial Denver metro area work found most health and social service providers did not make connections professionally between gentrification and their organization’s services. We then completed two focus groups with health and social service providers in multiple sectors and one focus group of older adults from a Denver housing complex for their perspectives about gentrification and older adults’ quality of life (i.e., mental and physical health, home and community-based services, social engagement and connections, and overall wellbeing), where issues around housing, food security, transportation, and safety were raised. We are now exploring using the longitudinal American Community Survey to explore the relationship between gentrification and older adults’ quality of life (e.g., chronic health conditions, overall wellbeing, and home and community-based service use).  We hypothesize that greater gentrification changes in neighborhoods (e.g., higher costs of living in housing, taxes, groceries, healthcare, and transportation, greater population turnover, and lower social support) are related to greater difficulties with older adults’ quality of life.

The team will include myself, my colleague Dr. Joyce Weil at Towson University in Maryland, and a part-time undergraduate research assistant. Learn More.

Position Description: The EURēCA! student will work on secondary data analysis, presentation, and writing (literature review, methods, and results) for our research project relating gentrification to older adults’ quality of life across neighborhoods in Denver, Colorado.

Duties and Responsibilities: The undergraduate work-study student is needed to: 

  • Learn about the Colorado Multiple institutional Review Board (COMIRB) process and ethical standards for conducting research via Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative (CITI) training. Complete CITI training to assist with developing an application for protocol review to submit to COMIRB.
  • Use multidisciplinary databases (e.g., public health, sociology, geography, political science, gerontology, and geriatrics/medicine) to conduct literature searches on the topics of gentrification, racial and ethnic minorities, aging in place, chronic health conditions, older adults, and quality of life. RAs will gather research/journal articles using EndNote Web and Microsoft OneDrive, while documenting their searches and key words used. RAs will be involved in various aspects of research, including archival and focus group data collection, content and thematic analyses, and writing.
  • Using the American Community Survey (from the U.S. Census Bureau) to download, conduct descriptive and possibly multivariate analyses, and write results related to gentrification and older adults’ quality of life.
  • Work on writing for a journal article publication, including a literature review, methods, results, and discussion.
  • Work on a conference abstract and slide presentation for our research results.

Work Expectations:

  • Timely attendance to our meetings (if you think you will be late or must miss our meetings, please text or email me)
  • Take notes during our meetings
  • Keep track of weekly tasks/Things to Do
  • Report on weekly tasks completed or in progress during our meetings
  • Please ask questions for clarity when you don’t understand something.  This is how we learn.
  • Give your opinions or ideas (creativity, innovations) on work tasks or research, particularly if you want to be a co-author on this research for a journal article (which is a possibility).  Think about any benefits and challenges we might have with this research, as well as future needs and next steps that we might explore.

Skills and Knowledge Gained: Critical thinking; confidence with the research process (scientific method) and conducting literature reviews; communication, data analyses using JASP or SPSS, and writing skills

The work-study students will do the following:

  • Database searches
  • Work with Endnote Web and JASP (open-source/free) or SPSS software
  • Enhance communication, presentation, and professional writing skills
  • Scholarly writing for a journal publication
  • Creating a conference abstract and presentation using Google Slides or PowerPoint

Minimum Qualifications: Strong work ethic, organizational skills, written and oral communication skills, experience conducting literature searches, and proficient with Microsoft Word, Excel, and Powerpoint or Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides 

Students should be comfortable doing some data analysis and presenting information, preferably having a research methods and/or statistics course.

Preferred Qualifications: Research Methods and/or Statistics Courses

Position Commitment: 8

Preferred Work Times: Two - Three days a week, with once a week Zoom meetings for our research team.

Length of Employment:

This position is available for Fall 2025 and Spring 2026, employment may continue at Dr. Ronica Rooks’ discretion. Please reach out to ronica.rooks@ucdenver.edu with any questions. If both mentor and mentee agree, students can apply to continue with EURēCA! for a second year.

Application Requirements:

  1. Resume
  2. Cover letter
  3. Unofficial Transcripts
  4. Complete 2025-2026 FAFSA or CASFA and attach one of the following:
    • Screenshot of email from Financial Aid stating potential work-study eligibility 
    • Screenshot of current 25/26 Work-Study award amount in Student Portal
    • Statement on other status (e.g. international student)