researcher

research assistant

post-doctoral associate

assistant professor

research associate

University of Colorado

I have managed, maintained and supervised the Materials Laboratory for the University of Colorado Denver for two years. (1) Managing our Concrete Materials Laboratory (2) Purchase of new equipment and maintenance of old equipment (3) Assisting other graduate students in concrete related batching and testing (4) Writing of regular progress reports to the research sponsor (50+pages) (5) Being an unpaid teaching assistant to the Introduction to Structural Materials course using CDOT Structural Concrete Specifications to guide civil engineering students (6) Responsible for preparing the laboratory to be certified by the CDOT for Colorado Procedure 10–Standard Practice for Qualification of Testing Personnel and Laboratories. In 2010, the UCD–Concrete Materials Laboratory successfully passed an inspection performed by the CDOT Physical Properties group.
*Responsible for ordering, obtaining, and maintaining all materials needed for concrete batching and testing (cement, aggregates, admixtures, cylinder molds) as well as more specialized equipment such as LVDTs, data loggers, and our freeze-thaw durability machine. I have (on his own) calibrated several pieces of equipment (compressometer, pressure meters, etc....) as well as cleaned and maintained other concrete test equipment. I routinely volunteers to assist other graduate students working on concrete related projects such as Evaluation of Post-Mercury Control Fly Ash, Evaluation of Recycled Concrete Materials, Pervious Concrete.

I meet with fauculty on a regular basis to identify patients who have the giving capacity to give over 25k and up. They work with me on identifying patients who have expressed intrest in knowing about their research. I find ways to reach out to the patients through cold calls, direct mail or email and try to secure face to face meetings. At that point I work hard to cultivate those potential prospects by taking them to lunch, providing them with materials, tours, etc. Once that relationship has been established it is appropriate to talk about fundraising and money with the prospect. My faculty and I strategize the appropriate dollar amount to ask the patient and come up with a proposal that makes sense and meets the patients needs. Once the patient decides to make a gift it is up to me to continiue to steward the donor and make sure they are updated on what their money is being used for.  I really enjoy working face to face with patients and getting to know why they are grateful patients and what drives them to support their doctors research. The hardest part of my job is identifying the right donor. You could make 15 cold calls and finally get a face to face meeitng with one, but it is still not guarenteed that they are interested in supporting medical research. 

If you're looking to go back to a high school like environment, the Facilities and HVAC department is for you.  Prepare yourself for infighting between your department managers,  coworkers, and external departments that your trade has common ground with. 

Overall the culture is as toxic as it gets. They promoted an unqualified manager that is unaware of how to work on any HVAC system, relying on the lead to do his job without the compensation. My direct boss badmouthed everyone we worked with without any context or request of that type of information. They do something called "Wage Compression" where they pay people coming in more than the people that currently work there creating animosity towards new employees. From the day you start, your co-workers and managers are plotting your last day. 

On top of this, the benefits are laughable and you can get far better healthcare in private industries for far less.  The HVAC positions are a "classified position" meaning you don't get the better and more flexible university benefits which are much better.

 Along with the low pay, this position and department will not help you grow and seriously needs a management overhaul however likely wont happen for another decade. Steer clear if you're looking to get anywhere here.

The University provides good benefits including a great contribution to their 403b retirement plan but the pay leaves a lot to be desired. Getting hired can be challenging as they seem to most often hire from within or hire people based on who they know (like their neighbors children). I worked in a laboratory that was completely toxic and a huge liability to the university in many ways. CU was either unaware of the atrocities occurring there or was simply turning a blind eye to them. Getting hired, at least where I was, was either being in the right place at the right time, or simply knowing the right person who could get your foot in the door. Promotion/merit raises were basically non existent, unless you knew someone or sucked up to the right person. It was absolutely NOT based on the amount of quality hard work and dedication you showed. CU has potential to be a great place to work but be careful and choosy about where you accept employment within the organization. There are many wolves in sheep's clothing hiding within, who are more than happy to use you up completely.

The office of information technology at CU Boulder is a decent place to work as a student. Not great but not horrible.

Pros:
-Pretty easy work besides summers where you have to work in non AC buildings installing and maintaining things while sweating profusely. 
-All around decent communication with the team
-Flexible unless you have any major life issues that don't take less than a week.
-Get to meet people at CU Boulder around your age.
-Sometimes get time to work on your school work.
-Overall pretty good as long as you stay under managements radar.
-Inclusive about gender/sexuality, and you can dress however you want for the most part.

Cons:
-Pay is pretty bad and raises are few, promotions also don't incentivize raises.
-Management has to communicate with their management which can become confusing.
- Management is pretty unprofessional, IE: accuses people when things go wrong, questions what you need days off for, isnt flexible about schedules over long term only if you need a day or two off here and there, makes the new people do crazy amounts of work and doesn't acknowledge good workers.
- During the summers you do crazy amounts of work and have to push 100+ pound carts for miles uphill to work in 90+ degree buildings with no ac.
-Management favors people pretty heavily.

A typical day at work was primarily self-directed by each individual as they planned their own lesson plans for delivering to the students. Acquired knowledge from  this experience involved 1) an in-depth orientation into the educational environment, 2) a wonderful opportunity to create teacher/student relationships, 3) I developed a tremendous level of respect for my peers and the professors guiding me, and 4) the acquisition of my degree which I had wanted to complete for years.

I was respected enough to be chosen as the only student sitting on the Academic Ethics Committee. This was a courtroom culture that reviewed cases brought to us by professors in regards to ethics violations they felt a particular student had committed. 

It was a very academic environment, and yet also had a relaxed but quick-paced approach. The hardest part of the job was the Academic Ethics Committe and the need and responsibility to discipline students on occasion which included up to expulsion. And yet, working with students was by far the most rewarding part when seeing them complete their studies and graduate.

A typical day at work required catching up on emails in the morning which basically determined my day, however, my day could consist of making travel arrangements to coordinating moves to ensuring applications had accurate materials.  I also greeted and answered queries from other university programs and students.  Using my daily planner and Google calendar, I planned my daily/weekly tasks.

In my role as a Program Assistant, I learned how to be more efficient.  Often, I would think about ways in how I could better processes.

Working for a total of nine Directors and programs, I found management flexible, supportive, and understanding especially when it came time to request if my hours could be changed due to my family obligations.  Co-workers were also a pleasure to work with.

The hardest part of the job was not so much the job itself, but travel time.  Since parking on campus was expensive, I caught the bus.  Even though I caught the express, travel time to and fro work too one hour.

The most enjoyable part of the job was being able to work independently and my managers having faith in my work and what I was accomplishing. This allowed me to experiment, i.e., create/generate processes that worked well in the office.

What is the best part of working at the company?
The best part of working at CU Denver is the positive energy of the staff, students, and community.  CU Denver is in the heart of downtown Denver and it draws a young crowd, however it also offers many current programs and resources for graduates. 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
The most stressful part is working downtown until 6:00 p.m. or later.  I'd prefer to start earlier and end earlier so that I could be at home with my family.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
The work environment and culture at CU Denver are positive, vibrant, inclusive and respectful of all people groups.  It is definitely a commuter school, however the students who live in the residence halls can feel safe and still participate in intramural activities of all kinds.  It's a dynamic place to work!

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
A typical day is spent working with students, collaborating with staff, instructors, professors, and other Auraria staff.  Every day was different and we do not work in isolation.

The quality of the work-life at CU is highly variable depending on who you work for; much of the medical school is known for exploiting their hard-working PRA workers, Post-Docs, and grad students, but there are some groups who treat their employees well and perform excellent quality research and education services. 

I have seen more sexism and ageism here than in any other institution in which I have worked. There is no space in the labs and little room for advancement. The pay is dismal (and some departments fight to never give you an increase, even with excellent performance reviews). The other benefits (401k and PTO) are excellent - as long as you are getting paid enough for them to matter or can actually take time off. Everyone is overworked and underpaid, and it shows both in morale and unethical decisions. Management is frequently incompetent, extremely hierarchical, and inconsiderate, but the other employees are quite kind and congenial. If you are doing medical research that works with the hospital (UCH), beware, it is a money-making enterprise (not a real non-for-profit) and not always supportive of research.

The Family Development Center at UCCS was a wonderful experience as a pre-school teacher and a parent of a kindergarten student.  The facility was clean, asthetically pleasing, safe, and child oriented.  The equipment was well cared for and kept clean for the children.  The teachers were dedicated, educated, creative, and child oriented. The administrators, were hands on, enthusiatic, and always available to parents as well as teachers, and children.  Being a certified behavior specialist, and  first  grade teacher for many years,  I was given the freedom to develop a creative, interactive educational curriculum based on the needs of my nine 3-5 year olds in the part-day program.  I only wish that I could be with the children five days a week instead of two.  We had so much fun!  This experience led me to completing an early childhood internship at Pikes Peak College in 2004.  If I was still living in Colorado Springs, I would have loved to teach full-time at FDC.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Researcher 63 salaries reported	$30.31 per hour
Research assistant 42 salaries reported	$61,264 per year
Post-doctoral associate 38 salaries reported	$68,883 per year
Assistant professor 79 salaries reported	$125,215 per year
Research associate 23 salaries reported	$79,676 per year

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