Fast-growing and now ranked among the top few dozen science websites, Science Buddies seeks a mission-driven physical chemist or physicist who wants to apply his or her extensive experimental design and science writing talents to support cutting-edge improvements to science education.

Annually reaching a number of unique users greater than 20% of the entire U.S. K-12 population (and growing), Science Buddies plans to continue creating informal science content that engages the public and supports our educational mission.

Science Buddies is an entrepreneurial, objective driven, and highly unique non-profit organization with an executive staff coming entirely from the high-tech, for profit world. The content developer reports directly to the lead scientist. This is a part-time, 20 hour per week, contract position with the potential for future growth.

About Science Buddies:
The award-winning Science Buddies website engages students with a revolutionary approach to personalized, out-of-school time science education. Imagine visiting a science museum where every exhibit is personalized to match your exact interests — that’s what Science Buddies is creating online. Currently focused on K-12 hands-on science activities and experiments, we have a library of more than 1000 project ideas covering topics in over 30 scientific fields, and growing. There are matches for virtually every student — whether it’s a project to make a piezoelectric pickup for acoustic guitar, identify genes that are over-expressed in pancreatic cancer tissue, create a microbial fuel cell, or study how exercise affects memory.

To help students find an intrinsically interesting project, we have borrowed concepts from e-commerce to develop an “intelligent” recommender for the Science Buddies website. The tool we created, the Topic Selection Wizard, asks questions about everyday interests and grade level and then directs students to matching project ideas in the library. Students who use the Wizard are 95% more likely to find a project idea that satisfies them compared with students who simply browse possible projects.

Science Buddies’ work has generated enthusiasm among scientists and educators, in addition to students and parents. In 2011, the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and the journal Science, the most preeminent scientific publication in the world, awarded the Science Buddies website the Science Prize for Online Resources in Education. This has enhanced our already excellent reputation among scientists such as research partners at MIT, Scripps, Stanford, and UC. The American Library Association, the Parents’ Choice Foundation, and the SciLinks program of the National Science Teachers Association also recommend Science Buddies.

Whether our user’s goal is to find a fun science activity for the kids or win the international science fair, sciencebuddies.org puts comprehensive, scientist-authored tools, tips, and techniques at her fingertips.

Essential duties and responsibilities:
• Responsible for content development in a wide variety of scientific disciplines with an emphasis on physical chemistry, nanotechnology, and physics.
• Conceptualize, test, write, and edit scientific experiments and activities appropriate for a K-12 audience
• Simplify sometimes intimidating science topics to make them accessible to the general public without losing sight of key science terms and concepts
• Review, revise, and update existing science content, including science project ideas, to improve relevance and scientific learning
• Collaborate with academic partners and other scientists on science project ideas that make cutting edge research accessible on the K-12 level

Strong candidates for this position will have the following characteristics:
• BS degree in an area of physical chemistry or physics with an outstanding academic record; graduate degree is a plus
• Excellent writing skills; experience writing/editing scientific or technical material for a general audience is a plus
• Hands-on experience designing and conducting scientific research
• A passion for communicating science to the general public
• Ability to work efficiently and meet deadlines
• Strong communication and interpersonal skills
• Well-equipped home office with high-speed Internet connection

Location:
Within the San Francisco Bay Area is a plus, but not required. At this time, Science Buddies is a virtual organization and employees telecommute from their home office. We hold group meetings on the peninsula twice a month. For us, a virtual organization is a way to stay lean and accomplish more with less, hiring the best people available no matter where they live. We work very hard; and we expect the same of anyone applying for this position.

Application instructions:
Please email your resume in PDF format to jobs4@sciencebuddies.org. Important: please include a uniquely tailored cover letter that explains why you are a fit for this position.
• Compensation will generally be on a “piece rate” per article written
• This is a non-profit organization.
• Principals only. Recruiters please don’t contact this job poster.
• Please, no phone calls about this job!
• Please do not contact job poster about other services, products or commercial interests.

• Telecommuting is ok.
• This is a part-time job.
• This is a contract job.
• This is at a non-profit organization.
• Principals only. Recruiters, please don’t contact this job poster.
• Please, no phone calls about this job!
• Please do not contact job poster about other services, products or commercial interests.