Senior Technologist, Biology Teaching Laboratory

at  University of Ottawa

POSITION PURPOSE

Reporting to the Manager, Laboratory Support, the incumbent performs a variety of technical activities in support of clients, including students, teaching assistants, faculty members, and other scientific or engineering professionals, in an assigned group of specialized scientific teaching lab infrastructures. Provides complex technical advice, support, and training to clients in the research, analysis, design, development, production, set-up, testing, operation, and maintenance of laboratory systems to the specification of the department or faculty’s curriculum or research requirements in order to achieve the experimental objectives and ensure safe working practices. The work is performed with minimal supervision, under general guidelines, and requires full awareness of the various technologies used.

IN THIS ROLE, YOUR RESPONSIBILITIES WILL INCLUDE:

• Technical Support: Meets with clients to identify and analyze their needs for special purpose complex scientific/research lab equipment and materials. Designs, assembles, installs, tests, maintains and repairs assigned laboratory equipment and materials to meet specific client needs and to ensure accurate and proper functionality. Analyzes and diagnoses the causes of lab malfunctions and carries out the required repair actions in order to maintain lab functionality for clients. Under the direction of the supervisor or faculty, carries out applied research related to experimental methods in fields related to the assigned labs.
• Training: Trains, performs demonstrations for, and supports teaching assistants and students in the use of lab equipment and materials to improve end-user proficiency. Promotes and supervises the responsible use of all lab equipment and materials to contribute to the safety of all users and to safeguard the value of the University’s assets. May interact with students and teaching assistants to provide support beyond demonstrations that assists with the description of concepts and the analysis of data to ensure that experimental objectives are successfully achieved. Evaluates components of student performance and understanding as part of the grading process.
• Health and Safety: Ensures that all assigned laboratories operate in accordance with the Health and Safety rules of the University, the Occupational Health and Safety Act, WHMIS and any other applicable regulations. May be responsible for the collection, storage or disposal of hazardous materials. Mitigates risk by ensuring that there is always a lab staff member present during scheduled labs, as well as during operating hours when clients may use the facilities outside of labs.
• Technical Advice, Design & Fabrication: Provides advice regarding the design of lab equipment and accessories to ensure the feasibility of fabrication and provides build or fabricating consultation services when required. Translates product specifications, such as verbal requests or sketches, to design equipment and accessories. May participate in the fabrication of this specialized lab equipment to create prototypes to meet teaching and research requirements of users. Acts as a resource person within the field by imparting skills and knowledge to clients at all levels of design and fabrication.
• Documentation: Participates in ensuring that manuals and other technical documentation is up to date for all experiments and equipment in the lab and that it is made available when necessary to clients. Maintains proper technical literature to be able to acquire knowledge on the equipment operation and to perform repairs if necessary. Contributes to the writing, development and production of new technical documents in consultation with faculty.