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UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA – MINNEAPOLIS, MN

Post-Doctoral Associate in Papyrology / Research Specialist in Papyrology

The Department of Classical and Near Eastern Studies (CNES) at the University of Minnesota, in association with the School of Physics and Astronomy (University of Minnesota) and the Oxyrhynchus Papyri Project (Oxford University) seeks a post-doctoral fellow in papyrology for two years. The successful candidate, who will be based in Minnesota, will work with an international team using online tools to engage a distributed volunteer community of "citizen papyrologists" in transcribing a large number of papyrus texts written in ancient Greek.

The collections of the Oxyrhynchus Papyri project (www.papyrology.ox.ac.uk) are a rich resource. Previous work to transcribe them en masse relied on image processing techniques that were unable to recover reliable Greek text. The problem faced in classifying and transcribing large numbers of the papyri is one of pattern recognition, a task to which the human brain is well suited. By using a flexible web-based interface, the job of transcribing is shared not only with a small number of scholars, but also with a force of volunteers spread around the globe. The web interface is already under development at Oxford and will be hosted through the Zooniverse citizen science portal (http://www.zooniverse.org). The Minnesota post-doctoral fellow will be joining a small team working to ensure that data produced by volunteer transcribers is useful to papyrological scholars.

This is a two-year, grant-funded, full-time appointment beginning August 29, 2011.

The post-doctoral fellow will play a pivotal role in managing the citizen science project, interpreting the ensuing data, and contributing to graduate education and departmental activities in CNES. Responsibilities will include:

• Collaboration with Drs. Dirk Obbink and James Brusuelas (Oxford) and the Zooniverse team (at the University of Minnesota and elsewhere) to support citizen researchers, collate results, and prepare material for publication

• Collaboration with UMN scientists and computational statisticians in their efforts to apply computational algorithms to the character strings produced by the citizen science interface.

• Supervision of graduate research assistants in CNES

• Teaching one advanced course per year in CNES

• Visits to Oxford to meet with the papyrology team there and examine the Oxyrhynchus materials in person

• Presentation of interim results at major scholarly meetings

Candidates must hold a PhD in Classics, Ancient History, or related fields, with a focus on papyrology. Experience working with papyrological collections is essential. Experience working with digital images and large databases is preferred, but not required.

Exceptional candidates who are ABD with a completion date in the near future will also be considered; these candidates would be appointed as Research Specialists and MUST APPLY FOR THAT POSITION, not the post-doctoral position.

All candidates should submit a letter of application and CV using the online system (see below) by July 18, 2011. Applicants should arrange for three letters of reference to be submitted by the application deadline. Applications received by July 18, 2011 will receive full consideration, but the search will remain open until the position is closed or filled.

Application link for candidates holding the doctorate:

https://employment.umn.edu/applicants/Central?quickFind=95649

Application link for candidates who have not yet completed the doctorate:

https://employment.umn.edu/applicants/Central?quickFind=95746

For further information contact: Professor Nita Krevans, Classical and Near Eastern Studies, University of Minnesota, 245 Nicholson Hall, 216 Pillsbury Dr. SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455. E-mail: nkrevans@umn.edu. Department telephone: 612-625-5353; department fax: 612-624-4894.